Putin calls strike on Ukraine with "Oreshnik" "test": Wanted to see results
Dictator Putin cynically said that the recent missile strike on a "shed" in Bila Tserkva with the Oreshnik system was merely a test for the future use of the weapon.
Censor.NET reports this, citing his statement quoted by Russia’s Interfax.
Ukraine as a testing ground
The Kremlin leader admitted that Russia is using peaceful Ukrainian cities as a testing ground to fine-tune its experimental missile systems. According to him, similar weapons had previously been tested only at closed Russian facilities.
"We tested similar systems at testing grounds, but we did not test the Oreshnik. This is not combat use. In fact, on the territory of Ukraine, there has been no combat use of the Oreshnik in the full sense of the word," Putin said.
The dictator clarified that the strikes were carried out on locations where it was supposedly "convenient" for the occupiers to see the results. In particular, he named two main areas of the latest attacks:
- Kyiv Oblast: strikes on the city of Bila Tserkva;
- Donetsk Oblast: strikes in the area of the "main fortified area" on the territory of the temporarily occupied or front-line part of DPR.
Threats of strikes on residential neighborhoods
Putin told foreign journalists details of how the Russian command assessed the destructive power of the missiles tested. The occupiers used drones for this purpose.
"Our drones then flew there, to that shed that was hit, and simply looked at how the separated blocks had landed. They calculated everything down to the millimeter," the Kremlin leader said.
Putin added that the data collected from the missile strike was needed by the Russian General Staff to make a decision in the future on "full-scale use of the Oreshnik" against designated targets. Among such potential targets, the dictator directly named facilities in built-up urban areas.
Russian Oreshnik missile strike on Bila Tserkva
- On the night of 24 May, the Air Force of Ukraine’s Armed Forces warned of the threat of a medium-range ballistic missile being used.
- Later, videos began spreading in monitoring channels showing what was claimed to be a Russian strike on the city of Bila Tserkva in Kyiv Oblast. It was noted that the video allegedly showed an Oreshnik missile strike.
- Yurii Ihnat, head of communications at the Air Force of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, confirmed that the Oreshnik struck a garage cooperative in Bila Tserkva.
