“Just thugs”. Zelensky commented on Putinʼs idea of a duel between “Oreshnik” and the air defense system

President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to Kremlin leader Putinʼs idea of a "duel" between the Russian medium-range ballistic missile "Oreshnik" and Western air defense systems over Kyiv.

"Do you think this is an adequate person? They are just thugs," Zelensky said during a press conference in Brussels.

Today, December 19, Putin conducted a “direct line” in which he said that he was proposing to Western countries to conduct a “high-tech duel”: they should place their air defense systems in Kyiv, and then the Russian Federation would strike there with the “Oreshnik”. He called it an experiment.

What preceded

On November 21, 2024, Russian forces attacked the Dnipro River. At that time, the Ukrainian Air Force said that the Russians had struck the city with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). On the evening of November 21, Putin said that Russia had struck the Dnipro River with what he said was a “new medium-range system” called the “Oreshnik”, a non-nuclear hypersonic ballistic missile. American officials believe that the Russian Federation had used an “experimental” medium-range ballistic missile.

This was the first time Moscow had used this specific type of weapon since the start of the full-scale war.

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