Putin says will carry out more Oreshnik missile tests in combat

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow would carry out more tests of the hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile in “combat conditions,” a day after firing one on Ukraine.

“We will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and character of the security threats posted to Russia,” Putin said in a televised meeting with military chiefs.

The Kremlin boss also ordered the missile, which flies at speeds of Mach 10 -- 10 times the speed of sound -- to be put into serial production. Russia is developing similar advanced systems, he added.

“We need to begin serial production. The decision... has in effect been taken,” Putin said, praising the “particular strength of this weapon and its power.

“The weapon system that was tested yesterday is another faithful guarantee of Russia´s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he added.

Putin claimed no other countries in the world had such missile technology. While he conceded other states would soon develop them, he said: “That will be tomorrow, after a year or two. But we have this system now. That´s important.”

His choreographed meeting with the defence minister and those in charge of developing the missile came at the end of a week that has seen the Ukraine conflict escalate rapidly.

Putin said the firing of the Oreshnik missile was a direct response to Kyiv´s forces using US- and UK-supplied missiles on Russian territory for the first time.

In an address to the nation on Thursday, Putin said Russia reserved the right to fire missiles at military facilities in countries whose weapons are being used by Ukraine -- specifically the United States and Britain.

Meanwhile, Ukraine´s parliament has cancelled Friday´s session, lawmakers said, citing the risk of a Russian missile attack on the district of Kyiv where government buildings are located.The move comes after several foreign embassies, including the US representative office, shuttered temporarily over the threat of a strike on Kyiv.

“The hour of questions to the government has been cancelled,” Yevgenia Kravchuk, an MP from the ruling party told AFP. “There are signals of an increased risk of attacks on the government district in the coming days.”

The cancellation also comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the West by test-firing a new intermediate-range missile at Ukraine.