Hypersonic Ballistic Missile Escalates the Conflict in Ukraine

By Matthew Grace

After U.S. approval for Ukraine to use large range weaponry to strike targets within Russia, Moscow struck back with a never before used in war ‘Oreshnik’ hypersonic ballistic missile on Thursday in Dnipro, a civilian target. Russia claimed the strike was in response to the approval and use of striking targets within Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky warned that this proves Russia is uninterested in peace and have instead once again escalated the “special military operation”. Leaders sympathetic to Russia like Victor Orban of Hungary insisted that Russia’s warnings of future Oreshnik strikes should be taken seriously and at “face value”. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned that “the risk for nuclear war has never been greater” and blamed the US for being too “aggressive and hostile” regarding the Korean Peninsula, just as North Korean and Russian ties have deepened with Russia having already supplied North Korea with over a million barrels of oil in exchange for arms and troops for the war in Ukraine.

NATO reaffirmed that the attack in Dnipro will “neither change the course of the conflict nor deter the alliance’s support to Kyiv”. NATO support was reinforced by the UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer who spoke to NATO secretary general Mark Rutte about the need for “putting the country [Ukraine] in the strongest position possible going into winter” and the importance of all NATO countries stepping “up in support of our collective defense”, noting the UK’s plan to raise defense spending to 2.5% in the spring. Regarding the deployment of the North Korean troops to Ukraine which have already sustained casualties, “this only served to further underline the indivisibility of Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security”. Although there was talk that President-elect Donald Trump and his administration would push for an end of the conflict, most likely with Russia retaining the territory it has currently taken, the Western European members of NATO appear to have a different perspective on the future of the conflict just as the escalation increases.