The Jan. 9 strike near Lviv, in western Ukraine, by a Russian hypersonic Oreshnik missile certainly was registered in the Western media, albeit with some spin to downplay the damage done. The New York Times was fairly blunt, as its headline made clear: “Putin Delivers a Warning to Europe at Mach 10.” The article said the strike “sent a message to Europe days after its leaders agreed to postwar security guarantees.”
Although there is no question that the surreal announcement by the Coalition of the Willing that they were prepared to send troops to Ukraine, despite repeated Russian warnings that they would be military targets, was very much on the minds of Russia’s leaders, the official explanation of the Russian Ministry of Defense was that the Oreshnik strike was in response to the Dec. 29 attack on President Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novgorod with a 91-drone swarm.
No, the New York Times argued, citing experts: “Friday’s strike was not primarily about any attack on a presidential dacha.”
