Ukraine-Russia warfare newest: Putin hails ‘unstoppable’ hypersonic missiles as Moscow ramps up threats to West

Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia’s use of its new “Oreshnik” missile was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukraine using US and UK-made weapons.

In his televised meeting with Russian defence officials, Mr Putin hinted at escalating conflict warning the West to back off in a coded message.

“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities,” the Russian president said.

“If anyone else doubts this, then they are wrong – there will always be a response,” he said.

Experts say the new hypersonic missile used by Russia may have the potential to be equipped with nuclear warheads and could reach as far as Europe or the west coast of the US.

“Putin is saying to the West stop – halt – back off,” former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov told Reuters.

Nato and Ukraine have scheduled an emergency meeting next week after Russia hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with an experimental hypersonic ballistic missile.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the missile known as “Oreshnik”, or Hazel Tree, that targeted Ukraine was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukrainian forces using US and British missiles.

He warned that the Ukraine war was escalating towards a “global conflict” after the US and the UK allowed Ukraine to hit Russia with their weapons.

Mr Putin said Russia would keep testing its experimental weapon in combat and had a stock of the missile that was “ready for use”.

Ukraine said in its assessment of the Russian missile that it reached a top speed of over 13,000 kph (8,000 mph), taking about 15 minutes to reach its target from launch.

Following Mr Putin’s statements, Nato and Ukraine will hold emergency talks on Tuesday.

Russia has included occupied Ukrainian territories in its recent greenhouse gas inventory report to the United Nations, sparking fury among Ukrainian officials and activists at the Cop29 climate summit.

“We see that Russia is using international platforms to legalise their actions, to legalise their occupation of our territory,” Ukraine’s deputy environment minister Olga Yukhymchuk told Reuters, adding that Kyiv is in touch with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to resolve the dispute.

In its 2022 annual report of greenhouse gas emissions, Russia claimed it could only provide data for 85 out of 89 of its territories “due to the absence of baseline data on land use for the territories of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Luhansk People’s Republic, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, annexed in September 2022”.

Russia had previously included emissions from Ukraine’s Crimea region, annexed in 2014, in its recent reporting submissions to the UNFCCC.

Ukrainian environment minister Svitlana Grynchuk raised the issue in a speech to delegates at the Cop29 summit earlier this week, saying Russia’s reporting on Ukraine territories undermines the integrity of global climate efforts.

Warning of the risk of double-counting emissions in territories that together exceed the size of Portugal and Azerbaijan, Ms Grynchuk said: “It will bring us to a point that we do not achieve any of our goals if we don’t have proper reporting under the Paris Agreement.”

A key UN General Assembly committee has adopted a resolution paving the way for negotiations on the first-ever treaty on preventing and punishing crimes against humanity – after Russia dropped amendments that would have derailed the effort.

The resolution – which marks the first ever global treaty on punishing crimes against humanity – was approved by consensus by the assembly’s legal committee, which includes all 193-member UN nations, after tense last-minute negotiations between its supporters and Russia that dragged through the day.

There was loud applause when the chairman of the committee gaveled the resolution’s approval. It is nearly certain to be adopted when the General Assembly puts it to a final vote on 4 December.

“Today’s agreement to start up negotiations on a much-needed international treaty is an historic achievement that was a long time coming,” Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch’s senior legal adviser for advocacy, told The Associated Press.

“It sends a crucial message that impunity for the kinds of crimes inflicted on civilians in Ethiopia, Sudan, Ukraine, southern Israel, Gaza and Myanmar will not go unheeded,” he said.

Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Maria Zabolotskaya said Russia withdrew the amendments “in a spirit of compromise.” But she said Russia “dissociates itself from consensus.”

Russian president Vladimir Putin said Russia will begin mass producing its new “Oreshnik” hypersonic ballistic missile that it fired at Ukraine on Thursday.

“There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system,” Mr Putin said in a televised meeting on Friday.

Experts say Oreshnik may be capable of flying at nearly 10 times the speed of sound and could strike targets up to 5,500km (3,400 miles) away.

Kremlin said it used the new missile in Ukraine in response to “Western escalation”.

“It is necessary to establish serial production,” the Russian president said.

Russia has reportedly provided air defense missile systems to North Korea in exchange for the over 10,000 troops it sent Kremlin to fight the war in Ukraine.

The missiles, seemingly anti-aircraft weapons, and other equipment were provided to help Pyongyang reinforce its air defense network, a top South Korean official said on Friday, according to the Associated Press.

However, it remains unclear what specific missiles Russia gave North Korea.

Experts suspect the deal was likely made by North Korea to bolster its air defence as the South flew drones over Pyongyang last month, scattering propaganda leaflets.