Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a missile “duel” with the United States to demonstrate the superiority of Russia’s new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile over any U.S. missile defense system.
Putin responded to Western scepticism regarding the Oreshnik by proposing that both parties choose a specific target for U.S. missile protection.
“We are prepared for such an experiment,” Putin stated confidently.
According to Putin, Oreshnik is considered a modern weapon, despite being built upon previous Russian design advancements.
On November 21, Russia launched the Oreshnik missile towards the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Putin presented this action as a retaliation to Ukraine’s use of U.S. ATACMs ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadows to target Russian territory with the approval of Western nations.