Russia issues warning to US, UK: ‘Hypersonic missile was a message’

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile test demonstrated Russia’s ability to respond to the West if it continues to ignore its concerns. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statements the day before were “comprehensive, clear and logical”.
Peskov’s statement came a day after Putin said Moscow had fired the new missile – the Oreshnik or Hazel Tree – at a Ukrainian military facility in response to Kyiv striking Russia with US-made and British-made missiles this week for the first time .
According to Reuters, Peskov said that the strike on Ukraine using a newly developed hypersonic ballistic missile was a message to the West that Russia will respond harshly to any “reckless” Western actions in support of Ukraine.
“The main message is that the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries that produce missiles, supply them to Ukraine, and subsequently participate in strikes on Russian territory cannot remain without a reaction from the Russian side,” Peskov told reporters.
“The West’s recklessness will not go unanswered by Russia – this is the main message of the president’s address,” Peskov was quoted by Russian media TASS as saying. The media posted Peskov remarks on its Telegram channel.
Peskov said he hoped that the US had received and understood Moscow’s message. “We have no doubt that the current administration in Washington had the opportunity to familiarise itself with this statement and understand it,” he said.
 
“The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in case our concerns are not taken into account are clearly outlined,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Meanwhile, Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser said, “Putin is saying to the West stop – halt – back off.”
Russia fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik”, or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine on Thursday in what Putin said was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukrainian forces with US and British missiles.
In a special statement from the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday, Putin said, “In response to the use of American and British long-range weaponry, on 21 November this year, the Russian armed forces carried out a combined strike on one of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex sites.”
The Russian president warned he could hit back against countries supplying weapons being used against targets in Russia. Putin said his military would “respond resolutely in a mirror way” to an “escalation of aggressive actions”.
“We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” Putin said in a TV address.
Putin said there is no way of counteracting this weapon, which attacks targets at a speed of 10 Mach, or 2.5-3km/s. But he assured that Russia will issue notifications before using this type of missile, TASS news reported.
“We will do it due to humanitarian concerns – openly, publicly, without any concerns about any countermeasures from the enemy, who will also receive this information,” Putin said.
“Why without any concerns? Because there are currently no countermeasures for this weapon at this moment,” he was quoted as saying.