LONDON, November 22. /TASS/. The combat test of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile called Oreshnik at the Yuzhmash defense enterprise in Ukraine was an attempt by Russia to persuade Western countries to refrain from escalating their involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. The economist said in a piece.

The publication notes that the “important audience” Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed yesterday would be the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who is “still refining its approach” to the conflict.

Thus, notes The Economist, Moscow, which published its revised nuclear doctrine on November 19, warns that it could well raise the stakes in response to the military efforts of kyiv and the West. According to the edition, the use of Oreshnik is now “part of a new era of missile warfare.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a televised address to the nation on November 21, announcing that in response to the West’s decision to authorize deep strategic strikes against Russia, Moscow had used its new Oreshnik medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile. The missile, which struck a defense production site in Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk), was equipped with a conventional warhead, but is also designed to carry a nuclear warhead.

According to the president’s words, Oreshnik attacks targets at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5 to 3 kilometers per second. Modern air defense and missile defense systems deployed by the Americans in Europe cannot intercept such missiles, he added.