Vladimir Putin boasts his new deadly weapon 'will make nukes redundant'

Vladimir Putin has resorted to outlandish boasts as his war in Ukraine stalls and his ally in the Middle East Bashar al-Assad was toppled by rebels in Syria last week

Russian despot Vladimir Putin has boasted his new ballistic Oreshnik missile would make nuclear weapons redundant.

The Russian President bragged about the weapon's speed, which is estimated to be about 10 times the speed of sound that would make it bypass any missile defence system. "What we need now is not to improve the nuclear doctrine, but the 'Oreshnik,' because enough of these modern weapons systems puts us on the verge of virtually eliminating the need to employ nuclear weapons," Putin said today, according to the Kremlin.

Putin made reference to the Oreshnik ballistic missile that Russia fired on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last month. He also claimed that the missile would be so powerful that it could have as much of an impact as a nuclear strike capable of destroying underground bunkers.

The weapon's use in Dnipro rang alarm bells among Western leaders as it happened close to Putin declaring Russia would pursue a new nuclear doctrine that would lower the threshold for the use of unconventional weapons, Newsweek reported.

Last month Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hit out at recent approval given to Ukraine to strike inside Russia's borders. He went on to urge the US and its Western allies to study modern nuclear doctrine.

At the G20 meeting in Brazil, he said: "If the long-range missiles are used from the territory of Ukraine against the Russian territory, it will mean that they are controlled by American military experts and we will view that as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia and respond accordingly."

Putin's brag comes as he faced humiliation last week as his propped-up dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled by opposition forces in Syria. The tyrant, who tormented his own population, fled to Russia as rebels swept across the Middle Eastern nation.

The Russian President was unable to aid his ally due to his army enduring significant losses in its war with Ukraine. He now awaits incoming US President Donald Trump to see if the Republican will press for a ceasefire between the two countries.

Putin has said he would be open to discuss a ceasefire, although it would be unlikely that he would surrender Ukrainian territory illegally occupied by Russia. His second bid to use the Oreshnik weapon suffered a set back last week after it suffered a botched launch, according to a Ukrainian ex-diplomat.

Ex-Ukrainian ambassador to the US, Valeriy Chaly, now says the missile failed on a 23 November launch. "A second launch failed,” he said.

“I mean they did launch the missile but it did not hit the target, that's the information….I have it from three sources, so I'm starting to use it, it's confirmed.”