Russia signals readiness to use any means in Ukraine conflict

Moscow could use more hypersonic missiles to protect 'security interests': Foreign Minister

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview broadcast on Dec 5, said the use of a hypersonic missile in the Ukraine war sought to make the West understand that the country was ready to use any means to ensure no "strategic defeat" would be inflicted on Moscow.

Russia deployed the Oreshnik hypersonic missile against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last month in what Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin described as a test of a weapon he said could not be brought down. He said Russia could bring other such missiles into action in "combat conditions" if required.

"The message is that you, I mean the US and the allies of the US, who also provide these long-range weapons to the Kyiv regime - they must understand that we would be ready to use any means not to allow them to succeed in what they call a strategic defeat of Russia," Mr Lavrov told US journalist Tucker Carlson.