The West’s confrontational policies may invoke harsh consequences if the conflict continues to escalate further, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his speech.

Below is a summary of the Russian leader’s remarks.

West’s strike

– Earlier this week, military sites in Russia’s borderline Kursk and Bryansk regions were attacked by US- and UK-made missiles.

– «Our air defenses successfully repelled these attacks. As a result, the adversary failed to achieve its apparent goals.»

– Washington and its NATO allies went the way of escalation by deciding to authorize the use of long-range weapons for strategic-depth strikes on Russia: «Experts are well aware – and the Russian side has repeatedly underscored this – that it is impossible to use these weapons without direct participation of military specialists from the countries that produce them.»

New missile

– Having repelled Ukraine’s attacks with US-and UK-made missiles, Russia retaliated by delivering a strike on a defense production site in Ukraine.

– Russia struck Yuzhmash, a Ukrainian aerospace plant, with a nuclear-capable hypersonic ballistic missile, only carrying a conventional warhead this time. The missile was codenamed Oreshnik by its designers, which can roughly be translated as ‘hazel bush.’

– «There is no way to counter the missile at this point.»

– Oreshnik attacks targets at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5-3 kilometers per second. «Modern air defense systems and missile defense systems deployed by the Americans in Europe cannot intercept such missiles. It is impossible.»

– When using Oreshnik, Russia will issue warnings in advance: «We shall openly and publicly do it for humanitarian reasons without fear of hostile counteraction. Why without fear? Because no means to counter this weapon exist today.»

– «We tested the Oreshnik missile in combat conditions in response to the aggressive actions of NATO regarding Russia.»

Plans for the future

– The United States «made a mistake by unilaterally destroying the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019 under a far-fetched pretext.»

– «We have always preferred, and are now ready to resolve all disputes through peaceful means, but we are also ready for any development,» he said. «If anyone still doubts this, they shouldn’t. There will always be an answer.»

– «We are carrying out the development of intermediate-range and medium-range missiles as a response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate-range and medium-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.»

– Russia’s plans for future deployment of intermediate- and medium-range missiles will depend «on the actions of the United States and its satellites.»

– «We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities.»

– «We shall decisively respond to aggressive escalation in a tit-for-tat manner. I recommend the ruling elites of the countries who nurture plans to use their military contingents against Russia seriously think about this.»

Situation in the special operation zone

– The use of the West’s longer-range missiles will not slow down the Russian offensive. «Our troops are successfully advancing along the whole combat engagement line. All our tasks will be fulfilled.»

– «I would like to particularly emphasize that the enemy’s use of such weapons will have no effect on the situation in the special military operation area.».