The key to all magic tricks is distraction, which is the best way to understand Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest round of nuclear saber rattling, including Thursday’s use of a new generation missile to hit a target in Ukraine.
After an initial statement by Ukraine’s air force that Russia had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin later said in a televised address to his nation that the strike had in fact tested a new, shorter range, hypersonic one called an Oreshnik. These are primarily designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads and would require missile defense systems Ukraine doesn’t possess to shoot down.
