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Vladimir Putin has threatened to use Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile to turn targets in Kyiv “to dust”, as his forces used cluster munitions against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Thursday.
The president said such a strike with the highly destructive Oreshnik missile would be in response to Ukraine using western long-range missiles to hit targets within Russia.
“At present, the ministry of defence and the general staff are selecting targets to hit on Ukrainian territory. These could be military facilities, defence and industrial enterprises, or decision-making centres in Kyiv,” said Putin on Thursday after a meeting in Kazakhstan.
He added that the Oreshnik missile Moscow first deployed last week in a strike on Dnipro could destroy even highly protected underground sites and that Russia had commenced its serial production.
“The temperature of the striking elements reaches 4,000 degrees,” Putin said. “Everything at the epicentre of the blast disintegrates into fractions and elementary particles. Essentially, it turns to dust.”
The threat comes just days after Ukraine closed its parliament on Friday because of a reported missile threat. Ukraine’s parliament building is located in Kyiv’s now heavily guarded government quarter, along with its cabinet offices, the presidential administration and the national bank.
Asked at the press conference to clarify whether the Oreshnik could be used against political centres as well as military sites, Putin replied: “There was this joke in Soviet times about weather forecasts: ‘The forecast is this: today, during the course of the day, everything is possible’.”
Earlier on Thursday, 11 Ukrainian regions reported damage to energy facilities, with power being cut for several hours as temperatures in Ukraine dropped below zero. Kyiv residents also experienced blackouts on Thursday.
“Again, the energy industry is under massive enemy attack,” said energy minister Herman Halushchenko, urging people to seek shelter as air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “about 100 attack drones, more than 90 missiles of various types” had targeted the country’s energy facilities. He said Russia’s use of cluster munitions was reported in several Ukrainian regions.
“The use of these cluster elements significantly complicates the work of our rescuers and power engineers in mitigating the damage, marking yet another vile escalation in Russia’s terrorist tactics,” Zelenskyy said.
This was Russia’s 11th large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy sector this year, authorities said. After several months with normal power supplies, Ukraine reintroduced scheduled blackouts for consumers about 10 days ago, with authorities warning that each attack further increases the likelihood of disruptions as temperatures start to drop below zero.
The western Ukrainian regions of Volyn, Rivne and Lviv were the most affected, with hundreds of thousands of people left without electricity and some without water, according to local authorities.
The attacks seem to have homed in on gas plants and substations of larger facilities, as no damage was reported at any thermal, hydroelectric or nuclear power plants. Ukraine’s Naftogaz said on Thursday that its gas-powered facilities in the Lviv region had been hit, but the damage had been minor. Ukraine’s energy grid, Ukrenergo, told the Financial Times that several of its substations had been struck.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said the emergency shutdown measures were taken early on Thursday to prevent damage to the system, but that power had been restored. No nuclear plants had been shut down, the ministry said.
Ukraine’s air defence said it downed 90 per cent of incoming missiles, and that 12 could not be intercepted. Russia had been deploying a large number of missiles and drones in recent weeks to overpower Ukraine’s air defences, and used thermal and radar traps, as well as fitting electronic jammers on missiles as a way of protecting them, it said. Russia was also helped by foggy and cloudy weather, it added.
Halushchenko told the FT last month that Russia had used cluster munitions in attacks on substations this autumn to prevent quick repairs, as workers cannot be sent to affected areas until there is no more risk of explosions. Ukraine has stockpiled transformers and can often repair damaged substations within a few days.
Zelenskyy said energy workers and emergency services were working to restore power and “normalcy” to affected areas.
Reiterating calls for more western air defences, he said each Russian attack “underscores the urgent need for advanced air defence systems in Ukraine — systems that save lives rather than sitting idle in storage depots”.
“This is especially critical during the winter months when protecting our energy infrastructure from Russia’s deliberate strikes is vital,” he added.
Additional reporting by Polina Ivanova, Cartography by Cleve Jones
