Putin Sends New Hypersonic Cruise Missiles to Atlantic
MOSCOW (Dispatches) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sent off a frigate towards the Atlantic and Indian oceans armed with new hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles which he said were unique in the world.
In a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Igor Krokhmal, commander of the frigate named “Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov”, Putin said the ship was armed with Zircon hypersonic weapons.
“This time the ship is equipped with the latest hypersonic missile system - ‘Zircon’ - which has no analogues,” said Putin, who is engaged in a standoff with the West over the war in Ukraine.
Shoigu said the Gorshkov would sail to the Atlantic and Indian oceans and to the Mediterranean Sea.
“This ship, armed with ‘Zircons’, is capable of delivering pinpoint and powerful strikes against the enemy at sea and on land,” Shoigu said.
‘Phone Use Allowed Ukraine to Target Russian Troops’
Meanwhile, the Russian military said unauthorized use of cell phones by Russian soldiers led to a deadly Ukrainian rocket attack on the facility where they were stationed, raising the death toll from the weekend attack to 89.
Gen. Lt. Sergei Sevryukov said in a statement late Tuesday that phone signals allowed Kyiv’s forces to “determine the coordinates of the location of military personnel” and launch a strike.
The Russian military is taking unspecified measures to “prevent similar tragic incidents in the future,” Sevryukov said, and promised to punish officials responsible for the blunder.
The attack, one of the deadliest on the Kremlin’s forces since the start of the war over 10 months ago, occurred one minute into the New Year, according to Sevryukov.
It was the latest blow to the Kremlin’s military prestige as it struggles to progress with its invasion of its neighbor, and stirred renewed criticism inside Russia of the way the war is being conducted amid a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a U.S.-provided HIMARS multiple launch system at a building where the soldiers were stationed. Two rockets were downed but four hit the building and detonated, prompting the collapse of the structure.
Details of the strike have trickled out in recent days.