Russian warship armed with hypersonic cruise weapons holds exercise in Norwegian Sea

10 January 2023, 14:13 | Updated: 10 January 2023, 14:14

A Russian frigate equipped with hypersonic cruise missiles has held an exercise in the Norwegian Sea, the country's defence ministry said on Tuesday.

"The crew of the frigate 'Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov' conducted an air defense exercise in the Norwegian Sea," it said.

"The crew... conducted an exercise to repel the means of an air attack of a simulated enemy in the Norwegian Sea."

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent the ship to the Atlantic Ocean armed with new generation hypersonic cruise weapons last week, seen as a signal to the West that Russia won't back down over the Ukraine war.

Read more: Amazon set to shut three UK warehouses putting 1,200 jobs at risk

Read more: NHS must do whatever it takes to tackle crisis, says Shapps - including cabins in car parks

The vessel is equipped with Zircon missiles, said by Russia to fly at nine times the speed of sound, with a range of over 1,000 km.

Russia sees the missiles as a means of piercing increasingly sophisticated US missile defences, according to outlet, which the Russian premier has warned could one day be used to shoot down Russian nuclear missiles.

Last week, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned the United States that the weapons would soon be close to NATO's shores.

This morning Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces claimed that 710 Russian soldiers had been killed in the last 24 hours.

In a tweet, it said the Russian death toll from the conflict was 112,470.