DIRECT VLAD THREAT
Putin warns he could strike British and US targets as he confirms launch of new hypersonic missile on Ukraine
Putin says there is no means to counter his new weapon
VLADIMIR Putin has warned he could strike British and US military targets in his biggest threat yet after Ukraine fired Nato missiles into Russian territory.
The dictator revealed he blasted Ukraine with a new kind of ballistic missile that hurtled down from the edge of space in a “depraved” act of nuclear brinkmanship.
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In a televised address on Thursday, Putin said military facilities inside the UK and the US could become valid targets for the Russian forces as a direct response to Ukraine's use of US-made ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles.
He said: "Russia considers itself entitled to use weapons against military facilities of countries that permit the use of their weapons against Russia.
"Since this moment, as we have underscored repeatedly, the conflict in Ukraine, provoked by the West, has acquired elements of global nature."
On Thursday, Kyiv claimed Ukraine was hit with what was thought to be the first use of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the war as part of Russia's revenge blitz.
Video showed rockets raining down on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro - reportedly six different warheads from a nuclear-capable Russian R-26 Rubezh ICBM.
However, in the same address, Putin announced Russian forces instead tested a new intermediate-range missile (IRBM).
"One of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested, among other things," he said in his TV address.
"In this case, with a ballistic missile in a nuclear-free hypersonic equipment. Our engineers named it Oreshnik.
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"In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on November 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine."
He warned the weapon, which he says is "impossible" to counter, could be used against countries that have allowed Kyiv to use their missiles to strike Russia.
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The dictator added: "If necessary, we will choose targets for destruction. There are currently no means to counter such weapons. It is impossible.
"I recommend that the ruling elites of those countries which are considering allegiance against Russia seriously consider this."
Zelensky said the “new Russian missile” reached the speed and heights of an ICBM.
ICBMs have a range of over 5,500km and were designed for nuclear war.
They blast into the edge of space and can reach speeds of 13,000mph before hurtling almost down to their targets.
Britain’s defence secretary John Healey said Russia had been planning the strike “for months”.
Russia refused to comment on the type of missile used.
The strike on Ukraine was part of a nine-missile blitz on the central city of Dnipro in the early hours of Thursday.
Ukraine’s Air Force said an alleged ICBM was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region around 1000km from Dnipro.
Kyiv's media claimed the missile was an RS-26 Rubezh missile with a range of 5,800km.
If confirmed, it would be the first time an ICBM has ever been fired in anger.
Western officials confirmed that a ballistic missile was used but they cautioned that its range was short of ICBM threshold.
The Rubezh is 12m long, weighs 36 tonnes and is launched from a 16-wheel vehicle.
It can carry an 800kg nuclear warhead and reach every country in the northern hemisphere from launch sites on Russian soil.
Meanwhile, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was told halfway through a press briefing not to comment on the suspected ICBM strike.
She could be seen answering a call in the middle of the televised conference.
The conversation was overheard via her mic, with a presumably senior diplomat saying: "Masha [Maria], ballistic missile strikes on Yuzhmash [defence plant in Dnipro].
"The Westerners are talking about it now. Don’t comment at all."
Thursday's strike came a day after America shut its embassies in Kyiv over fears of a “significant missile strike”.
Britain kept its embassy open.
Ukraine used the ATACMS rockets to hit a military depot in Bryansk - marking a major development on day 1000 of the brutal war.
Footage last night revealed the moment Ukraine reportedly fired Storm Shadow rockets inside Russia for the first time.
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Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, claimed the use of Storm Shadow missiles against a military site in Russia meant Britain “is now directly involved in this war”.
Moscow has made similar claims in the past over Western support for Ukraine.
On Tuesday President Putin signed a new nuclear doctrine to lower the threshold for doomsday strikes.
The policy, months in the making, allows Russia unleash a nuclear first strike if it is attacked by a country backed by a nuclear power.
Unconfirmed footage showed multiple blasts over Dnipro consistent with a type of warhead known as a multiple independent reentry vehicle or MIRV.
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MIRVs were designed in the 1960s to let one nuclear missile carry several doomsday warheads.
Russia claimed the strikes targeted a Ukrainian missile factory.
How Ukraine could turn war around in WEEKS using US missiles
EXCLUSIVE by Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter, and Georgie English, Foreign News Reporter
After 1,000 days of Vlad's gruelling war in Ukraine, the conflict has left more than a million soldiers and civilians dead or wounded.
Putin's forces invaded their neighbouring nation in February 2022 as part of the deluded tyrant's plan to rebuild the Soviet Union amid his paranoid fears over Nato.
Almost three years later, Kyiv's battle-weary troops are fighting to the death on multiple fronts.
They have faced several setbacks in the grinding conflict as Russia has made slow but incremental gains over Ukrainian territory.
But the green light from the US that now allows Ukraine to use long-range ATACMS missiles could be a game changer, an expert has said.
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told The Sun how Ukraine could turn the war around in six weeks when provided with unwavering support from key allies in the West.
The former British army officer said Washington's decision to allow Ukraine to use ATACMS is a "significant development".
He explained: "Since day one Putin and his close aides have been threatening a nuclear strike if we escalate it, and today is the 1,000th day of this conflict, and it hasn't happened.
"It should embolden our leaders, who must now realise that Putin's threats are completely hollow.
"With the Russian boxer on the ropes, now is the time that we enable the Ukrainians to absolutely put in the killer punch and be in a really good position for the expected ceasefire."
He added: "The fact that the Russians have been so vehement in their verbal attacks against the use of Nato missiles shows that this is a significant step.
"It could allow Ukraine to gain a good position in [the next] six weeks which will be important for Zelensky if Trump forces a ceasefire after getting back in office."
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