Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dubbed his Russian counterpart a “dumbass” on Thursday following calls for a ‘high-tech duel’. The remarks came hours after after the Vladimir Putin threatened to strike Kyiv with a new hypersonic ballistic missile — dubbed Oreshnik — developed by Russia.
“People are dying, and he thinks it’s ‘interesting’. Dumbass,” Zelensky wrote on X.
The rebuttal came even as Russian attacks also killed two people in the southern city of Kherson on Friday. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin also noted that shelling had left 60,000 homes without electricity in the cold weather.
Putin had touted the military capabilities of Oreshnik during a recent media interaction — suggesting "hi-tech duel" between the West and Russia to prove it is impervious to air defences. He also boasted that the ongoing military operation had ‘strengthened’ Moscow during an annual news conference meant to reinforce his authority. The Russian leader was however forced to admit he did not know when his country would retake areas in the Kursk region that were seized by Kyiv in August.
"Let them propose some kind of technological experiment — let's say a kind of high-tech duel of the 21st century. Let them determine some target to be hit…for example in Kyiv. They concentrate all their air and missile defense forces there…and we will strike there with the Oreshnik. And we’ll see what happens,” Putin suggested during the press conference on Thursday.
The Russian leader claimed that the ongoing war had made life more ‘interesting’ in recent years — taking away the ‘boredom’ and ‘stagnation’ of a regular life. He also described a possible Oreshnik ‘duel’ in a similar manner — deeming it an ‘interesting experiment’.
“We are ready for such an experiment. In any case, we don’t rule it out. We will conduct such an experiment, such a technological duel, and see what happens. It’s interesting,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
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