Ukraine was hit with Zircon – Putin admitted

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his address to the Federal Assembly – the Russian parliament, stated that Russian troops had already tested the Zircon hypersonic missile on the battlefield, again accused the West and the US of provoking the conflict with Russia and warned against it escalating into a nuclear one.

Putin began his traditional address 15 minutes late, and it lasted over two hours.

He declared a minute of silence for the fallen “our heroes on the front lines” and “in the trenches” and spoke about “all-Russian support for the SVO” (this is what Russia calls the war against Ukraine. – Ed.).

And although the entire first part of his speech was dedicated to the war against Ukraine, he practically did not mention Ukraine itself, conducting a correspondence dialogue exclusively with the West.

What Putin said about the front

He devoted much of his speech to Russia's "achievements" on the battlefield.

“Defense, strengthening of sovereignty is going on in all directions, and first of all at the front… Our armed forces have gained enormous combat experience,” the Russian leader said.

In particular, he mentioned the following:

“Strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness. The Kinzhal hypersonic aviation complex has not only been put into service, but is also being used with high efficiency… The Zircon sea-based hypersonic strike complex has already been used in combat.”.

Previously, Ukraine claimed that the Russians used the latest hypersonic cruise missile, the Zircon, during a missile strike on Ukraine on February 7.

Then, fragments of one of the missiles damaged underground power lines and tram tracks in Kyiv.

The markings on these fragments aroused particular interest in Ukraine at the time.

“We drew attention to the atypical trajectory of one missile during the morning attack. It was launched from Crimea and hit the Kyiv region… Previously, it was a promising hypersonic cruise missile ZM22 “Zircon”, launched from a universal vertical launch container,” the authors of the Monitor channel wrote.

And they added that the missile's flight is similar to a hybrid of "Dagger" and "Onyx.".

On February 12, the director of the Kyiv Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, Oleksandr Ruvin, reported that during the strike on Kyiv on February 7, 2024, according to preliminary information, Russia did indeed use the 3M22 Zircon missile.

The 3M22 Zircon was developed as a hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile, with which the Russians plan to rearm part of their fleet.

The development of these missiles became known several years ago, and in 2019, Putin claimed that Zircon can hit both sea and ground targets at a distance of over 1,000 km and accelerate to Mach 9.

At the same time, during the recent attack on Kyiv, a then-unknown missile from Crimea, according to the Monitor channel, never crossed the hypersonic speed limit.

Nuclear threats

Having resumed the correspondence discussion with the West, Putin once again reiterated that "we did not start this war in Donbas, but we will do everything to end it, to eradicate Nazism.".

Accusing the US of “open hostile actions,” he stated:

“This is a state (the USA – Ed .) that, as they themselves say, is trying to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield.”

“Now, without any shame, they declare that Russia is planning to attack Europe. But this is simply nonsense! And at the same time, they themselves choose the targets on our territory and the most effective, as they think, means of destruction.”.

It was in this context that Putin spoke about the possibility of a nuclear conflict.

“They should understand that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory… Everything they invent, everything they scare us with, all of this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and therefore the destruction of civilization. Don’t they understand this?!”

At the same time, he stated that Russia is “ready for a dialogue” with the United States “on issues of strategic stability,” which would be conducted “in a comprehensive manner” and would outline a “security contour in Eurasia.”.

Macron's response?

In the same context, Putin threatened “tragic consequences” if NATO military contingents were sent to Ukraine. He called foreign military personnel on Ukrainian territory “potential interveners.”.

"We talked about the possibility of sending NATO military contingents to Ukraine. We remember the fate of those who once sent their contingents to the territory of our country. Now the consequences for potential interveners will be much more tragic," Putin said, delivering a message to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

Putin was apparently referring to the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently stated that sending Western ground troops to Ukraine to defeat Russia is not ruled out.

Later, French Foreign Minister Stephane Séjournais clarified that Western countries could send troops to Ukraine without “crossing the threshold of war.”.

But soon the White House and European leaders announced that they had no plans to send troops to Ukraine.

Putin traditionally devoted the next two-thirds of his speech to domestic Russian issues – the economy, demography, and social problems.