ASTANA, SANA-Decision-making centers in Ukraine could be targeted in strikes with Russia’s newest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile system, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

“The Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Russian Army are currently selecting targets to strike on the territory of Ukraine,” Putin said speaking at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Summit in Astana.

“These targets may include military facilities, defense industry enterprises or decision-making centers in Kiev,” the Russian president stated, according to TASS.

He also said that serial production of the Oreshnik missile system has already been launched.

“But at the end of the day, it will be up to us to choose the means of destruction considering the nature of the targets that were selected to be wiped out and the threats posed to the Russian Federation,” Putin noted.

The Russian president stressed that Moscow would respond to any and all strikes on Russian soil with the use of Western-made long-range missiles, up to and including “the possible continuation of Oreshnik tests in combat conditions, as was done on November 21.”

Putin said on November 21 that the United States and its NATO allies had announced their decision to grant Kiev permission to use long-range high-precision weapons, following which US-and UK-made missiles attacked Russian military sites in the Kursk and Bryansk regions.

In response to these attacks, Russia test-launched the latest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missiles with conventional warheads against Ukraine’s major Yuzhmash defense enterprise in Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk), Putin elaborated.

The Russian leader stressed that the West’s inflammatory actions could trigger serious consequences if the Ukraine conflict escalates further.

Mazen Eyon