“Decision-making centers in Kyiv could become the new target of ‘Oreshnik,'” – Putin says

The Russian Ministry of Defense, together with the General Staff of the Armed Forces, is selecting appropriate targets in Ukraine for the next strike with the newest medium-range ballistic missile, “Oreshnik.”

This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian leader noted that military facilities, defense industry enterprises, or decision-making centers in Kyiv could be targeted. The inclusion of the latter option in the list of possible targets was explained by the Russian president as a response to attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to destroy vital state facilities in Russia. He reminded that Ukrainian forces had intended to attack facilities in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Russia first used the “Oreshnik” missile on November 21, when the Russian military struck a military-industrial complex in the city of Dnipro. According to Putin, this was Moscow’s response to the Ukrainian strike on Russian territory with ATACMS, HIMARS, and Storm Shadow missiles.

The Russian president stated that the massive use of “Oreshnik” is comparable to the power of a nuclear strike. This judgment, he added, is based on assessments from military and technical experts. However, Putin emphasized that the new strike hypersonic missile system is not a weapon of mass destruction.

According to the Russian leader, “Oreshnik” is capable of striking deeply buried and well-protected targets. He added that everything within the blast’s epicenter from this missile is broken down into elementary particles and essentially turned into dust.

On November 19, two days after reports about the U.S. President Joe Biden’s authorization to use long-range ATACMS missiles against Russian territory, the editor-in-chief of *National Defense* magazine, Igor Korotchenko, commented on the response to such strikes. He suggested that in such a case, Moscow might target decision-making centers in Kyiv.

Additionally, the expert pointed out that Russia would be ready to deliver a massive strike using cruise missiles against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

“This means that before winter, all—key and other—energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine will be destroyed, completely severing energy connections with the West,” he noted.

This, in turn, would make it impossible for the military and state administration systems of Ukraine, including President Volodymyr Zelensky’s apparatus, to function effectively, Korotchenko concluded.