Russian state-controlled media on Monday declared a new and – according to the Kremlin – nearly-unstoppable nuclear-capable ballistic missile deployed and ready for launch from a new base in Belarus.
Per Moscow claims, the advanced and highly maneuverable Oreshnik missile will become part of the Russian Federation’s deterrent to possible NATO attack against Russia or its ally Belarus, a video published by Russia’s defense ministry says.
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The officially produced video shows a green-painted command vehicle and two hulking “Uragan” semi-trucks driving to an undisclosed site purportedly in Belarus. A Go-Pro-type camera mounted on one of the semis shows dry dirt trails uncommon in Belarusian forests that are usually snowy and water-saturated in late December.Warmly dressed soldiers – some wearing safety orange safety belts uncharacteristic for Russian army field troops stopping in a clearing – are seen positioning a vehicle and lowering a camouflage net. One soldier waving hand flags (one red, one yellow) acts as a ground guide.
Other images aired by the Russian state broadcaster RT show a formation of soldiers standing to attention at an army base during a flag-raising ceremony, as a general declares the Oreshnik missile brigade combat-ready. Recorded martial music tootles in the background.
A Russian defense ministry statement said: “The Oreshnik missile complex entered combat duty in the Republic of Belarus and a solemn ceremony was held to place on combat duty a unit equipped with the Oreshnik mobile surface-to-air missile system.”Thanks to the “hard work” by Belarus’ President Alexander Lukahsnko and other officials in the authoritarian former Soviet republic, “all conditions were created in advance [of their arrival to the duty station] for Russian servicemen to serve and live,” the official Kremlin report said.The Reuters news agency on Saturday reported that Belarus has very likely deployed an Oreshnik firing unit at the abandoned Krychev air base near the border between Belarus with the Russian Federation. Open-source satellite overflight images of the site confirmed intense preparation work in progress, specific to an Oreshnik missile base, in mid-November.
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The Oreshnik system
Flying at a hypersonic Mach 10 or Mach 11, Russia’s Oreshnik missile until 2024 was a largely experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) developed by Russia as a follow-on weapon to medium-range missiles fielded by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Russian officials led by Russian President Vladimir Putin have touted the Oreshnik as a nearly unstoppable weapon armed with independently targetable warheads, advanced guidance, jamming resistant guidance, high maneuverability and hypersonic speed. Most independent military analysts rate the missile as a mostly untested upgrade of the older RS-26 Rubezh IRBM.
The only confirmed use of an Oreshnilk missile in war took place on Nov. 21, 2024 with a Russian strike against Ukraine’s Pivdenmash defense plant in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine. Putin described it as a successful “combat test” of the non-nuclear hypersonic system. According to Dnipro news platforms, the warheads hit around the factory. None penetrated production facilities deep underground.
On June 8-9, 2024, Ukraine’s national intelligence agencies claimed their operatives destroyed an Oreshnik missile, or its launcher, at Russia’s Kapustin Yar test range prior to a combat launch, allegedly leaving Russia with a single functioning system. There was no outside confirmation of the Ukrainian claim but since then the missile has not been fired at Ukraine, nor declared spotted by Ukrainian intelligence services.
In comments to Russia’s nationally-broadcast Vesti television news program on Monday, Russian military “analyst” Igor Korotchenko said a recent alleged attack by Ukraine against the personal residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin justified Kremlin launches of Oreshnik missiles at Ukraine, targeting top officials and institutions in Ukraine’s government.
“Kyiv has officially declared war against the Russian Federation. That is how international law must deal with the present situation. Regarding possible retaliatory measures by Russia, I think the most optimal option would be the delivery of a strike against President Zelensky and against other centers of state and military control in Kyiv using medium-range Oreshnik ballistic missiles without the nuclear type of warhead,” Korotchenko said.
The claimed Krichev launch site in eastern Belarus is, however, some 600 kilometers from Kyiv – well below the minimum effective range of an Oreshnik missile.
From that location, the weapon with a maximum range of 5,500 kilometers could hit the territory of any European state excepting Greenland, which belongs to Denmark. Portugal’s Azore Islands and Spain’s Canary Islands are, likewise, located outside the reported maximum range of the Russian missile.