Addressing Western skepticism about the power and capabilities of Russia's new intermediate-range ballistic missile Oreshnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin challenged the West to a missile "duel" with any location in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev being the target.
A few days ago, a leading missile technology expert had claimed that defense systems like Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, Aegis Ashore, THAAD, Patriot, or Iron Dome are ineffective against Oreshnik, echoing Putin's earlier claim that "there are currently no ways of counteracting this weapon".
According to news agency TASS, Putin said Russia is ready for an experiment involving Oreshnik.
"Let them call us and those in the West and the US who pay for their analysis out to conduct sort of a technological experiment and have a 21st century-style high-tech duel. Let them choose a target, say, in Kiev, and amass their air and missile defense systems there, while we will launch an Oreshnik missile at the target. We will see what happens," Putin was quoted as saying.
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A US official had earlier said the Oreshnik missile, which was used for the first time in November, is more of an attempt at intimidation than as a game-changer on the battlefield in Ukraine.
First use, tall claims
In the first instance of the use of the weapon in combat, Russia fired the missile in a November 21 attack against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Surveillance camera video of the strike showed huge fireballs piercing the darkness and slamming into the ground at astonishing speed.
Hours after the use of the weapon, Putin made tall claims about the new, hypersonic missile and warned that Moscow would not hesitate use it against Ukraine's NATO allies who allowed Kyiv to use their longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
Putin has hailed Oreshnik's capability, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at Mach 10 are immune to interception and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack.
The Pentagon said the Oreshnik was an experimental type of intermediate-range ballistic missile, or IRBM, based on Russia's RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. According to the Pentagon, Oreshnik is not technically a hypersonic missile as it does not have a hypersonic glide vehicle that propels the missile for most of the launch and re-entry.
