A close ally of Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia’s new intermediate-range missile could level European capital cities in minutes.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev – who has been on the Security Council of Russia since 2020 – claims that a new missile could cause “unacceptable” damage to main European cities in the space of just a few minutes.

Medvedev posted the ominous message to Telegram on Sunday, writing: “Europe is wondering what damage the system can cause if the heads are nuclear, whether it is possible to shoot down these missiles and how quickly the missiles can reach the capitals of the Old World.

“The answer: the damage is unacceptable, it is impossible to shoot down with modern means and we are talking about minutes.”

The Kremlin tested a new intermediate-range missile based on the existing RS-26 Rubezh ICBM in Dnipro, Ukraine, last week. Called the Oreshnik, meaning hazelnut tree in Russian, the missile can reportedly hit targets around 250-300km away and the distance between Moscow and London is around 2,500km.

The missile had six non-nuclear warheads, each with six submunitions, when it was aimed at Dnipro in an attack assumed to be in response to the US and UK allowing Ukraine to use missiles they supplied to strike targets inside Russia.

“Bombs will not help,” Medvedev added, “so the only hope is that kind Russia will warn about launches in advance. Therefore, it is better to stop supporting the war.”

NATO will reportedly convene an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss what the escalation of the long-running conflict could mean for other European nations.

Putin has claimed that the Ukraine war is turning into a “global” conflict, citing an entitlement to target the military facilities of countries who supplied weapons to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a nationally televised speech on Thursday, the Russian leader said western air defence systems would be powerless to stop the new missile.

And Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov added on Friday that western countries had been “reckless” in supplying warheads to Kyiv.

He said: “The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined.”

Despite the growing threat, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden says Britain won’t let Russia “dictate our decisions” and join “those voices of weakness who want to give Putin a veto over our help for Ukraine”, especially in relation to potential cyber attacks.

During a speech at the NATO cyber defence conference in London today, Monday, November 25, Mr McFadden said: “Given the scale of Russia’s hostility, my message to members today is clear: While no-one should underestimate the Russian aggressive and reckless cyber threat to NATO, we will not be intimidated by it and we will never allow it to dictate our decisions or policies.”