Russian military expert and historian of the Air Defense Forces Yuri Knutov warned Ukraine in an interview with Sputnik on Dec. 24 that if Kiev attempted to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting Moscow, Russia would move to wipe out the production facilities for those weapons. “Once Russia receives reliable information that such weapons have been created or are in the final stages, the corresponding workshops will be targeted with hypersonic and cruise missiles,” he said.
He made his remarks in response to a report by British weekly The Economist that Ukraine was working on methods to increase the range of its missile, the Trembita, a cruise missile which currently has a range of up to 200 km and a speed up to 400 km/h. The distance between Kiev and Moscow, using the shortest straight-line distance, is approximately 700 km.
