Vladimir Putin has said he will fire more of Russia’s new hypersonic missiles at targets in Ukraine.

The Russian president added that his country has already begun mass production of the nuclear-capable weapon.

Putin also said that Moscow would carry out more tests of the hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile in ‘combat conditions,’ a day after firing one on Ukraine.

‘We will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and character of the security threats posted to Russia,’ he said in a televised meeting with military chiefs.

Putin said that while it isn’t an intercontinental missile, it’s so powerful that the use of several of them fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with strategic – or nuclear – weapons.

Russia fired the new-generation missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro early Thursday in a major escalation of the weaponry being deployed in the nearly three-year conflict.

The Kremlin boss also ordered the missile, which flies at speeds of Mach 10 – 10 times the speed of sound – to be put into serial production. Russia is developing similar advanced systems, he added.

‘We need to begin serial production. The decision… has in effect been taken,’ Putin said, praising the ‘particular strength of this weapon and its power.

‘The weapon system that was tested yesterday is another faithful guarantee of Russia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,’ he added.

Putin claimed no other countries in the world had such missile technology.

While he conceded other states would soon develop them, he said: ‘That will be tomorrow, after a year or two. But we have this system now. That’s important.’

His choreographed meeting with the defence minister and those in charge of developing the missile came at the end of a week that has seen the Ukraine conflict escalate rapidly.

Putin said the firing of the Oreshnik missile was a direct response to Kyiv’s forces using US- and UK-supplied missiles on Russian territory for the first time.

In an address to the nation on Thursday, Putin said Russia reserved the right to fire missiles at military facilities in countries whose weapons are being used by Ukraine – specifically the United States and Britain.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is asking its Western partners for updated air defence systems after Russia fired an ultra-fast ballistic missile at the city of Dnipro this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday.

‘Ukraine’s defence minister is already holding meetings with our partners on new air defence systems – exactly the kind of systems that can protect lives from new risks,’ Zelensky said in an evening video address published on social media.

Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday’s Russian strike on the military facility in Dnipro.

NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked Dnipro with the experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war.

The conflict is ‘entering a decisive phase,’ Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and ‘taking on very dramatic dimensions.’

Gen. Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, echoing Putin’s claim that even with conventional warheads, ‘the massive use of the weapon would be comparable in effect to the use of nuclear weapons.’

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up Russia’s bellicose tone on Friday, blaming ‘the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries’ in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia.

‘The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined,’ he said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow’s talking points, suggesting the use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement.

‘These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,’ Orbán said on state radio. ‘There is a strong assumption – that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.’

Orbán cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a ‘bluff.’ ‘It’s not a trick- there will be consequences,’ he said.