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Washington Has ‘Understood’ Putin’s Warning After Hypersonic Missile Strike, Kremlin Says

Flashes of Wednesday’s hypersonic missile attack in Ukraine’s Dnipro. The Ukrainian charity "Come Back Alive" / AFP

The Kremlin said Friday it was confident that the U.S. had grasped the implications of President Vladimir Putin’s warning following Russia’s missile strike on Ukraine with a weapon capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“We have no doubt that the current administration in Washington has had the opportunity to familiarize itself with this announcement and understand it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, referring to Putin’s statement a day earlier.

Putin on Thursday characterized the war in Ukraine as having the traits of a “global” conflict and suggested strikes on Western countries could not be ruled out.

Peskov described Putin’s message as “comprehensive, clear and logical.”

The statement comes amid heightened tensions, with Ukraine this week firing U.S.- and U.K.-supplied missiles at Russian territory for the first time. Moscow accused Western nations of directly participating in the war by authorizing such strikes.

“The key message is that the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries — which produce missiles, supply them to Ukraine and subsequently take part in carrying out strikes on Russian territory — cannot go unanswered,” Peskov said.

The nearly three-year conflict in Ukraine has seen a sharp escalation in recent days, with both sides accusing each other of dangerous provocations.

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