Ukrainian security services destroyed a Russian Oreshnik ballistic missile in Russia in the summer of 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a briefing, Kyiv independent reports.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Military Intelligence Directorate (MID) and other divisions of the defense forces participated in the operation, Zelensky said.
SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk later clarified that the missile, capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, was destroyed at the Kapustin Yar missile range in Russia’s Astrakhan region, a key site for testing Moscow’s strategic weapons.
Zelensky added that Russia could produce up to six such missiles a year and was reportedly seeking to deploy them in Belarus. “It has a range of up to 5,000 kilometers and a dead zone of 700 kilometers. Our partners in Europe should pay attention to this,” argued the Ukrainian president.
Russia first used the experimental Oreshnik missile during a strike against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on November 21, which Putin said was a response to Ukraine’s use of long-range US and British missiles against Russian territory.
What is the Oreshnik rocket?
Few details have been released about the weapon, but defense analysts believe the Oreshnik is an improved version of Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh first developed in 2011.
Announcing the missile in November 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Oreshnik was a new invention that Western air defense systems could not intercept.
“Nutcracker” was designed to carry nuclear weapons. However, Putin said that at the time of the attack on the Dnieper, it was not armed with a nuclear warhead.
“A combat test of one of Russia’s newest medium-range missile systems was conducted. In this case, a non-nuclear hypersonic version of a ballistic missile,” the Russian leader said in a live speech on Nov. 21, 2024.
The “Nutcracker” described by Putin was so new that almost nothing is known about him, except what he claimed during his speech.
However, the reality seems to be a little different
“I would be extremely shocked if this missile system had more than 10 percent new parts,” Fabian Hoffmann, a defense expert and PhD student at the University of Oslo, told the Kyiv Independent at the time.
“I think they just took the RS-26 apart or cannibalized it, and then put together this new missile with a few upgrades and a new paint job,” he adds.
The RS-26 that Hoffman is talking about is the RS-26 “Rubezh”, about which quite a bit is known.
First produced in 2011 and successfully tested in 2012, the Rubezh is a 36,000 kilogram medium-range ballistic missile (IBM), capable of carrying a nuclear weapon and with a known range of 5,800 kilometers.
The claimed but unproven range of 6,000 kilometers would only put it in the category of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Its development and deployment was actually halted in 2018 in favor of the Vanguard hypersonic planer.
The “Rubezh” is equipped with a MIRV payload, which stands for “Multiple Independent Reciprocating Vehicles”, which can be seen in videos of the attack on the Dnieper.
Footage showed multiple projectiles hitting the ground, but without the large explosions usually associated with conventional missiles or payloads, suggesting it was carrying what was essentially a mock-up warhead.
HUR provided further details about Oreshnik in November last year, claiming that it was actually just a different name for a previously known missile called Kedr, translated as cedar, which Russia tested in October 2023 and June 2024.
The missile that struck the Dnieper was equipped with six warheads, each containing six submunitions, and reached a speed of more than Mach 11 (about 13,500 kilometers per hour) on its descent, HUR added.
“I think it’s really important not to overreact,” Hoffman said, adding that the missile itself is not particularly new, despite what Putin has said.
“I like his comment about a ‘hypersonic’ missile – of course he had to, but any medium-range ballistic missile will reach hypersonic speed at some point, so that’s just nothing,” he added.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, echoed the same sentiment, saying that while “we take all threats against Ukraine seriously, it’s important to keep several key facts in mind.”
“Ukraine has withstood countless attacks from Russia, including missiles with significantly larger warheads than this weapon.
“Let me be clear: Russia may seek to use this capability to intimidate Ukraine and its supporters or gain attention in the information space, but this will not change the game in this conflict,” the American said.
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