Zircon Test: Russia Fires Hypersonic Cruise Missile; Putin Blames Ukraine for Freezing Peace Talks
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Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Saturday that it successfully fired its Zircon hypersonic missile from a warship in the Barents Sea that traveled 625 miles and hit its target in the White Sea.
In April, Russia also successfully test fired its new Sarmat superheavy Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that can reportedly deploy 10 or more nuclear warheads on each missile.
Russia released footage of the Zircon missile being fired. The ministry said, “Today, the lead frigate of Project 22350 Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov fired a Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile at a sea target position in the White Sea from the Barents Sea.” The missile can reportedly travel nine times the speed of sound.
The Heritage Foundation’s 2021 Index of U.S. Military Strength said “Russia remains the primary threat to American interests in Europe and is the most pressing threat to the United States,” describing Russia as “aggressive in its behavior and formidable in its growing capabilities.”
KISSINGER CALLS ON UKRAINE TO MAKE CONCESSIONS
Congressional Research Service wrote on 21 March 2022: “Relations between the United States and Russia have shifted over time—sometimes reassuring and sometimes concerning—yet most experts agree that Russia is the only nation that poses, through its arsenal of nuclear weapons, an existential threat to the United States.”
PUTIN ACCUSES UKRAINE OF FREEZING PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
Putin on Saturday held a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz and French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the Ukraine War and pinned blame on Kyiv for not seeking a diplomatic resolution for the conflict.
The phone conversation lasted 80 minutes and the Russian leader Putin brought up the West’s “pumping” of arms into Ukraine. Putin said these donations “risks further destabilization of the situation and aggravation of the humanitarian crisis.”
Putin told them that Russia was open to a negotiated peace deal and said Moscow is willing to help tackle the emerging food crisis if Western countries lift “the relevant sanctions.”
Scholz and Macron urged Putin to declare an immediate armistice and withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine, TeleSUR, the Latin America television network, reported. The report said there were gains made during the conversation and Putin committed to treating captured Ukrainian combatants “in accordance with international humanitarian law.” He also vowed to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross unrestricted access to the captives.
ICYMI
Too sad Putin's words and agreements with Putin are worth literally nothing.
The "kind" NZ government has donated some obsolete gun sights to the Ukrainians and sent defense force personal to train them in their use. The light guns that the sight will be used on will be destroyed with their NZ trained Ukrainian crews long before they get the Russians in range. It'd be a joke if it wasn't so tragic.
A big part of being antiwar is seeing things from the other's side. Kiwis should cut the jingoism and not make a habit of funding and training people to kill. You reap what you sow. No military aid to the Ukraine.