Russian leader Vladimir Putin deployed a frigate equipped with hypersonic missiles to the Atlantic Ocean. The deployment comes as the war Moscow continues to wage on Ukraine is at its 10th month.
During a video conference on Wednesday with Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu and the frigate’s commander Igor Krohmal of the “Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov,” Putin said the frigate was equipped with a new generation of Zircon hypersonic missiles.
“This time the ship is equipped with the latest hypersonic missile system – Zircon,” said Putin during the video conference. “I am sure that such powerful weapons will reliably protect Russia from external threats.”
Putin added that the new missiles have “no analogs in any country in the world.” Russia has previously used the hypersonic Kinzhal missiles on Ukraine.
Shoigu said the Gorshkov frigate would be transiting through the Atlantic and Indian oceans, as well as the Mediterranean sea. Shoigu said the Zircon missiles could overcome any missile defense system, noting that the missiles can fly at nine times the speed of sound with a range of over 1,000 kilometers.
The deployment comes as there have been no signs of the 10-month-long war stopping any time soon. The ongoing war that has already gone into the winter months killed thousands of troops on both sides.
Moscow sees the new weapons as a way to counter the increasingly sophisticated US missile defenses. Putin warned that the US defenses could potentially shoot down Russian nuclear missiles.
Russian as well as Chinese hypersonic missiles are designed to be used with nuclear warheads, according to a US Congressional report on hypersonic weapons.
In the latest intelligence bulletin by the British defense ministry, the ministry noted the recent Ukrainian strike at a school in Makiivka that killed 89 Russian troops on December 31. The ministry said the extent of the damage was an indication that ammunition was stored near the temporary barracks that detonated during the strike.
The building was also located 12.5 kilometers from the Avdiivka sector of the front lines in Donetsk, according to the ministry.
“The Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war, but this incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate,” said the ministry.