NATO and Ukraine to hold emergency talks after Russia's hypersonic missile use
NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental hypersonic ballistic missile, escalating the war, News.az reports citing foreign media.
The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions”.Ukraine’s parliament cancelled a session as security was tightened following a Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro on Thursday.
In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech to his nation that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was retaliation over Kyiv’s use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.
Mr Putin said Western air defence systems would be powerless to stop the new missile.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up the bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia.
“The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined,” he said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow’s talking points, suggesting the use of US-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement.
“These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Mr Orban said on state radio.
“There is a strong assumption … that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.”
Mr Orban cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasising that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a bluff.
“It’s not a trick… there will be consequences,” he warned.
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