Russian Defence Ministry Press Service
Russian Oreshnik missile launch
Russia has once again used the Oreshnik against Ukraine, an intermediate-range ballistic missile with nuclear capabilities that Moscow presents as a “state-of-the-art” weapon that is impossible to intercept. Although it did not carry a nuclear warhead, experts admit that it could be equipped for this purpose.
Russia used three times in the war against Ukraine its nuclear-capable ballistic missile Oreshnik. According to the Kremlin, it is a “state-of-the-art” weapon that cannot be intercepted.
On Sunday, the intermediate-range projectile fired at Bila Tserkva, a town in the wider Kiev region, the Ukrainian army reported. Ukraine says the missile was fired from the Kapustin Yar range near the southern Russian city of Volgograd.
In early January, one of these hypersonic gas missiles in the Lviv region of western Ukraine, local authorities said.
The name comes from the Russian word for hazel. Moscow said the missile was first fired in 2024 at a factory in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. In none of the three attacks did the projectile carry a nuclear warhead.
Vladimir Putin promoted Oreshnik as an example of Russian technological prowessbuilt by a national military industry unhindered by Western economic sanctions.
Russia claims that the Oreshnik is a intermediate range missilewhich means it can hit targets between 3000 and 5500 kilometers away.
According to the Pentagon, the Oreshnik, which could, is a modification of the Russian missile RS-26 Rubezhan intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBMwhich has been tested since 2011.
In 2024, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenkoa key ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, confirmed that Russia had deployed Oreshnik missiles to his country, which borders NATO’s eastern flank. Moscow announced at the time that the missile system had “entered combat service”.
At the time, Sergei Karakayevcommander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, the unit responsible for the country’s nuclear arsenal and ICBM program, says Oreshnik .
Destructive power
O Oreshnik tem “dozens of warheads, self-guided warheads,” Putin said in 2024. The missile itself, he added, does not cause mass destruction because “there is no nuclear warhead, and that means that there is no nuclear contamination after use”.
Military experts say, however, that could be equipped with warheads nuclear.
Putin said the destructive elements of the missile can reach a temperature close to the surface of the Sun. “For this reason, everything in the epicenter of the explosion disintegrates in fractions, in elementary particles, essentially in powder”, he stated in 2024, adding that he could reach “even highly protected targets and located at great depth”.
No local do first attack with Oreshnik, in Dnipro, in 2024AFP noted limited damage: the roof of a building torn off and scorched trees. Residents reported a “hellish noise” and strong flashes during the attack.
Ukrainian authorities also reported only limited destruction, which suggests that the missile would be equipped with inert warheads.
Putin says it is “impossible” for modern anti-aircraft defenses to intercept the Oreshnik, which attacks at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5 and 3 km/s. Experts say the missile can move at hypersonic speedsbut cannot be maneuvered in the same way as typical hypersonic missiles.
“As with other intermediate-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles, their warheads enter the atmosphere and strike targets at hypersonic speeds,” he said in 2024 Marcin Andrzej Piotrowskianalyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM).
“But, unlike hypersonic weaponsthe Oreshnik warheads did not perform maneuvers at hypersonic speeds, which would complicate the actions of anti-missile defenses”, he added after the first attack.
Os ballistic missiles are propelled into the atmosphere by rockets before descending at high speeds due to the pull of gravity, which can make them very difficult to intercept by air defense systems, and almost impossible if submunitions are released.
In 2024, Putin stressed that Oreshnik “is not a modernization of an old Soviet system”, but rather aa “modern, state-of-the-art” device.
Intermediate-range ballistic missiles were banned for decadesunder a now-defunct treaty that resulted from the President’s historic meeting Ronald Reagan with the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachevin 1986 and was considered a critical step in easing Cold War tensions.
This treaty was in force for years, but US withdrew from the agreement in 2019, during President Trump’s first term. The Trump administration argued that Russia had violated the pact for a long time.
