Conflict moving toward global dimension: Putin

MOSCOW/KYIV — The Ukraine conflict has taken on features of a global conflict after attacks by Western missiles on Russia's Kursk and Bryansk regions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday.

"Since this moment, as we have underscored repeatedly, the conflict in Ukraine, provoked by the West, has obtained elements of a global nature," he said.

The Russian president vowed that Russia would respond decisively in the event of escalation in Ukraine.

He emphasized that his country has the right to use weapons against the military facilities of the countries that use their weapons against Russia.

"I would like to stress once again that it is not Russia that is destroying the international security system, but the United States," Putin stressed in the speech.

Meanwhile, he confirmed that Russia has successfully tested a new medium-range ballistic missile Oreshnik, in response to enemy actions.

Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that Russia's missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, writing on X after Putin's television appearance, said Russia's acknowledgment that it used the new weapon was another escalation.

Tensions have spiked in the past several days. Ukraine fired US and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week, despite Moscow's warnings that it would see such action as a major escalation.

In the latest developments on the battlefield, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said in a video on Friday that Russian forces had accelerated their advance.

Belousov was shown in footage visiting a Russian command post in Ukraine and handing out medals.

The ministry said on Thursday that its forces had captured the eastern Ukrainian village of Dalne.

Ukraine's General Staff did not acknowledge Dalne being in Russian hands.

Xinhua - Agencies