Putin: Russia has 'right' to strike back at west

Vladimir Putin has said Russia fired an experimental ballistic missile at a military site in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro yesterday morning, and that Moscow "had the right" to strike western countries that provide Kyiv with weapons used against Russian targets.

- Pjotr Sauer, Dan Sabbagh, Andrew Roth

The Russian president, speaking during an unannounced televised address to the nation, appeared to directly threaten the US and UK, which this week allowed Ukraine to fire western-made Atacms and Storm Shadow missiles into Russia.

The new ballistic missile was called Oreshnik (the hazel), Putin said, and its deployment "was a response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate and short-range missiles".

He said Russia would "respond decisively and symmetrically" in the event of an escalation.

"Russia reserves the right to use weapons against targets in countries that permit their weapons to be used against Russian targets," Putin added in his most explicit threat to attack western countries, which have been providing military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

US and UK sources indicated that they believed the missile fired on Dnipro was an experimental, nuclearcapable intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), with a theoretical range of below 3,400 miles. That is enough to reach western Europe from where it was fired in south-western Russia, but not the US.

Ukraine's air force had initially claimed Russia had fired a longerrange intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). However, later President Volodymyr Zelenskyy softened the claim to say the missile fired had "all the parameters" of an ICBM in terms of speed and altitude of flight.

"Obviously, Putin is using Ukraine as a testing ground. Obviously, Putin is terrified when normal life simply exists next to him," Zelenskyy said.