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Vladimir Putin threatened to use Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile to turn his ambitions in Kyiv “to dust”, as his troops used cluster munitions against Ukraine’s powerful artillery on Thursday.
The president said that such a strike with the Oreshnik anti-missile missile would be in response to Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles in the West to fire at Russia.
“At the moment, the Ministry of Defense and its staff are choosing what they want to hit on the territory of Ukraine. This could be military equipment, defense businesses and industries, or the decision-making center in Kyiv,” he said. Putin Thursday after the meeting in Kazakhstan.
He also said that the Oreshnik Moscow missile that was first deployed last week in Dnipro could destroy even the most protected underground facilities and that Russia had begun serial production.
“The temperature of the interesting material reaches 4,000 degrees,” Putin said. “Everything in the core of the explosion breaks up into smaller particles and particles. Basically, it turns to dust.”
The threat comes just days after Ukraine closed its parliament on Friday over a missile threat. Ukraine’s parliament is located in the heavily guarded Kyiv government district, along with its offices of ministers, presidential administration and the national bank.
Asked at a press conference to explain whether Oreshnik could be used against political and military targets, Putin replied: “There was this joke in the Soviet era about weather forecasts: ‘The weather forecast is this: today, in the middle of the weather. every day, everything is possible.”
Early on Thursday, 11 regions of Ukraine reported damage to power plants, and electricity was cut for several hours as temperatures in Ukraine dropped below zero. Residents of Kyiv were also blacked out on Thursday.
“Also, the power industry is under heavy attack by the enemy,” said Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, urging people to take shelter as air raid sirens rang out in Kyiv.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy it said that “about 100 warplanes, more than 90 missiles of all kinds” had targeted the country’s power plants. He also said that the use of Russian military equipment was carried out in several regions of Ukraine.
“Using these groups seriously hampers the work of our rescuers and electrical engineers in reducing the damage, which also shows the bad rise of Russian terrorists,” Zelenskyy said.
It was Russia’s 11th major attack on the Ukrainian power sector this year, officials said. After months of normal electricity, Ukraine imposed a blackout for consumers about 10 days ago, with authorities warning that any attack increases the chance of blackouts as temperatures begin to drop below zero.
Ukraine’s western regions of Volyn, Rivne and Lviv were the hardest hit, with thousands of people without electricity and some without water, according to government officials.
The attack appears to have occurred at gas plants and larger facilities, as no damage was reported at any power, hydroelectric or nuclear facilities. Ukraine’s Naftogaz said on Thursday that its gas plant in the Lviv region was hit, but the damage was minimal. Ukraine’s energy group, Ukrenergo, told the Financial Times that several of its facilities were affected.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said emergency shutdown measures were implemented on Thursday to prevent damage to the system, but power was restored. No nuclear facilities were shut down, the ministry said.
Ukraine’s air defense said it shot down 90 percent of incoming missiles, and 12 could not be intercepted. Russia has sent a number of missiles and drones in recent weeks to defeat Ukraine’s air defenses, using fuel traps and radar, as well as installing electronic devices on the missiles as a defense mechanism, it said. Russia was also helped by foggy and cloudy weather, it added.
Halushchenko told the FT last month that Russia used cluster munitions to attack low-lying areas this fall to prevent rapid reconstruction, as workers cannot be sent to affected areas until there is no longer any risk of explosions. Ukraine has an overabundance of transformers and can often repair damaged areas within days.
Zelenskyy said that electricity workers and emergency workers are working to restore power and “normal” to the affected areas.
Reiterating the call for Western air defense, he said that every attack by Russia “confirms the need for a strong air defense system in Ukraine – systems that save lives instead of being useless in the reserves”.
“This is especially important in the winter months when our electronic security in Russia will be deliberately attacked,” he added.
Additional reporting by Polina Ivanova, Editing by Cleve Jones
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