The nuclear threat: is Vladimir Putin bluffing?

It may be “innocently” called Oreshnik – “hazel tree” – but the Kremlin’s latest hypersonic ballistic missile is “one of its most dangerous”, said James Kilner in The Daily Telegraph.

Russian forces test-fired it for the first time in combat last Thursday. It flew from Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea at more than ten times the speed of sound to hit targets in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, where its multiple warheads rained down “in deadly synchronisation”. Coming days after Ukraine’s forces had fired American and British missiles into Russian territory for the first time, the Oreshnik was a warning, specifically to Britain. Vladimir Putin boasted that the missile, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, had been designed for a “decisive” strike on the UK. He warned that Russia’s enemies should “seriously think” about their actions.

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