‘Into dust’: Vladimir Putin makes fresh missile threat

Vladimir Putin has threatened the use of a new ballistic missile -comparable to a nuclear weapon – as tensions continue to escalate.

Vladimir Putin has threatened to strike at “decision-making centres” in Kyiv with Russia’s new intermediate-range missile, which he says would be comparable to a nuclear weapon.

Putin made the threat during a regional security meeting in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on Thursday local time, boasting that Russia produces ten times more missiles than all NATO nations combined.

“The Defence Ministry and the general staff are selecting targets to hit on Ukrainian territory,” he said.

“These could be military facilities, defence industry enterprises or decision-making centres in Kyiv.”

Putin has threatened to target ‘decision-making centres’ in Kyiv. Picture: AFP

The warning comes as Russia continues to combat test its new missile the Oreshnik.

Putin said Russia had been forced to bring forward the missile “in response to the enemy’s actions” and said there were no “analogues” to the Oreshnik in the Western world.

Putin said the Oreshnik could turn anything “into dust” and hit at a temperature comparable to “the surface of the sun”.

“We do not rule out the use of Oreshnik against the military, military-industrial or decision-making centres, including in Kyiv,” Putin told a press conference in Astana.

“We will respond to the ongoing strikes on Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles, including by possibly continuing to test the Oreshnik in combat conditions.”

The threats of ballistic missile use come as Ukrainians brace for a brutal winter, with much of its energy infrastructure damaged by almost three years of war.

A person stands on a balcony of a theatre building during a partial blackout in Kyiv. Picture: AFP

Local residents take shelter in a metro station during an air strike alarm in Kyiv. Picture; AFP

As Russian troops advance in eastern Ukraine this week, more than half a million in Ukraine’s western Lviv region are now cut off from electricity.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had also fired “cluster munitions” during attacks this week, calling it a “very despicable escalation of Russian terrorist tactics”.

Tensions have ratcheted over the last few weeks as both sides look to secure an advantage on the battlefield ahead of Trump’s January inauguration.

Putin suggested he was hopeful for Trump’s second term, describing the Republican on Thursday as an “intelligent person” who was capable of finding a “solution”.