Kyiv is heavily protected by air defences, but Putin says the Oreshnik, which Russia fired for the first time at a Ukrainian city last week, is incapable of being intercepted - a claim greeted with scepticism by Western experts.

Launching multiple Oreshnik missiles in a single attack would have destructive power similar to that of a nuclear weapon, the Russian president claimed.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has said that he might use the new Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile against "decision-making centres in Kyiv". Source: Putin quoted by Russian media Quote: "The Ministry of Defence and the General Staff are choosing targets for [Oreshnik] strikes against Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday threatened to strike "decision-making centres" in Kyiv with Russia's new hypersonic missile, hours after Moscow pummelled Ukraine's energy grid in an attack that left a million people without power.

Last week, Russia fired its new intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Ukraine and hit a factory in the central city of Dnipro, as the country puts the weapon into mass production

The dust has settled in Dnipro, Ukraine, where investigators are analyzing the wreckage at a weapons factory struck by a new Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile last week. But the debate continues over the strategic impact of the missile,

Vladimir Putin is threatening to launch a new intercontinental ballistic missile, which he calls "Oreshnik," against Ukraine, with Kyiv potentially being the target, the Russian media Kommersant reports.