Putin threatens strikes on Kyiv’s decision-making centres

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia may target “decision-making centres” in Kyiv with the new Oreshnik hypersonic missile.

This remark follows Ukraine’s recent use of Western missiles against Russian territory.

Historically, Russia has not attacked Ukrainian government buildings during the ongoing conflict. Despite heavy air defenses in Kyiv, Putin claimed that the Oreshnik is uninterruptable, a statement met with skepticism from experts.

Putin mentioned that the Ministry of Defence is currently identifying targets that could include military and industrial sites, as well as decision-making centres in Kyiv.

His remarks were made at a summit in Kazakhstan, reasserting Russia’s stance to respond to Ukraine’s alleged use of U.S. ATACMS missiles.

In recent developments, Ukraine fired ATACMS into western Russia, prompting retaliatory strikes from Russia, which included the Oreshnik missile. Putin emphasized that the missile had comparable destructive power to a nuclear weapon but would not carry a nuclear warhead.

He claimed that Russia’s missile production capabilities outpace NATO’s by a significant margin and that several Oreshnik missiles are ready for deployment. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the missile attacks as severe escalations in the conflict.