Russia to mass produce hypersonic ballistic missile to compete with US weapons, Putin says

Moscow is set to mass produce its new hypersonic ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which Russian President Vladimir Putin touted as a weapon capable of besting any US-made system.

Putin ordered officials to ramp up production of the Oreshnik intermediate-range missile this week, which made a shocking debut last November when it was used to attack a Ukrainian military site in Dnipro.

“Serial production of the latest Oreshnik medium-range missile system is under way,” Putin told graduating military cadets in Moscow.

The Oreshnik — Russian for “hazel tree” — was studied by Kyiv and appeared to be based on Moscow’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads up to 3,425 miles.

The range of the weapon would allow Moscow to launch nuclear weapons anywhere in Europe and even the western United States.

Putin greenlit the rocket’s use on November 21 in direct response to the use of US- and British-made cruise missiles inside Russian territory.

The Russian strongman had claimed that the West has no way of counteracting the hypersonic weapon, warning that the Kremlin could seek the atomic option if it’s attacked by ballistic missiles from a nation backed by a nuclear superpower.

Putin followed up the threat last December, when he suggested the Oreshnik would win in a duel against America’s defense systems.

He also claimed Russia would set up a missile base for the Oreshnik’s in Belarus come 2025, which directly borders Poland, a NATO member nation.

US officials dismissed Putin’s boasting at the time, saying the missile was not the game-changer Moscow claimed it to be and suggesting Russia only possessed a handful of Oreshniks.

Putin’s talk of mass producing the weapons comes as Ukrainian forces halted Russia’s advancements along the Sumy region, stopping 50,000 Moscow troops from claiming further territory as the war enters a new quagmire, according to Kyiv’s top military commander.

Despite the slowing advancement on the ground, Moscow has kept up its aerial barrages, launching hundreds of drones and missiles over the border and leading to civilian casualties in Ukraine.

At the same time Russia carries on its invasion of Ukraine and threats of nuclear attacks on the West, it is also calling on Iran to cooperate with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog group to maintain peace in the Middle East.

After Iran’s parliament voted to suspect cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on Tehran’s National Security Council to strike the bill down.

“We are interested in Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA continuing,” he told reporters Thursday.

“We are interested in everyone respecting the Supreme Leader of Iran, who has repeatedly stated that Iran does not and will not have plans to create nuclear weapons,” he added.

With Post wires