Ambassador Melnyk told how the Russian “Oreshnik” can strengthen the position of Ukraine

European countries can increase their support for Ukraine against the background of Russia’s test of the new Oreshnik ballistic missile in combat conditions and President Vladimir Putin’s statement about the right of the Russian Federation to use weapons against the facilities of those countries that allow their own to fire at Russian facilities. Ambassador of Ukraine to Brazil Andrii Melnyk said this in an interview with Radio Liberty.

“I think elementary fear will already be at work, because until recently, especially in Germany, and this is still the case, everyone thought and hoped that this was a war that would affect only Ukraine… Now I understand that in many people, especially after regular statements of the same Putin and all others… then they are really afraid. They started to be afraid now,” Melnyk emphasized that before going on a business trip to Brazil, he headed the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Germany for eight years.

The diplomat believes that the element of Russia’s use of a new type of weapon against Ukraine can also be used in negotiations with the new US administration.

“We need to use all the creativity and diplomatic art that we have in order to convince President Donald Trump personally that … due to the increase in military support for Kyiv from the very first days of his presidency, due to the harsh displays of force against Russia, Putin, too against the background of what you saw now – the use of intercontinental missiles for the first time in history (it’s just terrible!) – that only this can help the new president and, of course, us, to create the prerequisites … for a just and lasting peace” – emphasized Melnyk.

On the evening of November 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the “successful test in combat conditions” of the newest medium-range Oreshnik missile. According to him, the forces of the Russian Federation struck the Dnieper with this ballistic missile with non-nuclear hypersonic equipment.

Putin said that this was “a response to the aggressive actions of NATO countries towards Russia” – the permission of Ukraine to strike with Western missiles on the territory of the Russian Federation and such strikes in the Bryansk and Kursk regions. He also did not rule out new such strikes.

The Russian leader also said that in the future, civilians will be informed about plans to use Oreshnik.

The Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that Russian troops attacked the Dnipro with various types of missiles, including launching an intercontinental ballistic missile. According to the local authorities, an industrial enterprise was damaged in Dnipro as a result of the strike, two fires also broke out in the city, and three people were injured.

This was preceded by the closure of a number of embassies due to security concerns. On November 20, the US Embassy in Ukraine announced that it had received “specific information” about a possible significant Russian air attack on November 20. As a precaution, the embassy was closed. Subsequently, the diplomatic missions of Spain, Italy and Greece also announced the closure for visitors on November 20.

Against this background, social networks spread information about the possibility of launching an attack on Ukraine with the RS-26 “Rubezh” ballistic missile. The launches were supposed to be from a training ground in the Astrakhan region. No such launches were reported on November 20.