Russia said on Friday it had used its latest missile against Ukraine for the second time in the nearly four-year war, a strong signal to Kiev and its Western allies as US-led peace talks entered a crucial new phase.
The Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile struck Ukraine’s western Lviv region late Thursday evening. The area is near a military base in neighboring Poland, which serves as a key hub for transporting Western military supplies to Kiev.
Some commentators in Moscow said the attack was a warning to European leaders against proposals to deploy troops to Ukraine as part of a possible peace deal. Russia has said it would not accept such a deployment and would consider those forces legitimate targets.
A look at the weapon and why Russia used it now:
What is known about Oreshnik
Russia first used the Oreshnik multiple warhead in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024.
President Vladimir Putin said the Oreshnik, which means “hazelnut” in Russian, was heading toward its target at 10 times the speed of sound, or Mach 10, “like a meteorite” and claimed it was immune to any missile defense system.
He said the weapon was so powerful that the use of several such missiles – even equipped with conventional warheads – could be as devastating as a nuclear strike. He said it was capable of destroying underground bunkers “three, four or more stories down.”
The Russian military said the Oreshnik can carry nuclear or conventional warheads and is capable of hitting any European target.
The Pentagon said the Oreshnik is an experimental type of intermediate-range ballistic missile, or IRBM, based on Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. Intermediate-range missiles can fly between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310-3,400 miles). Such weapons were banned under a Soviet-era treaty that Washington and Moscow abandoned in 2019.
When Russia first used the Oreshnik, the Ukrainian military said the missile had six independently targetable warheads, each carrying six submunitions.
Russian military bloggers said the submunitions released by each warhead were apparently unarmed but had high kinetic energy, estimated to deliver a destructive force equivalent to tons of explosives.
Since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has used swarms of cheap, slow-flying drones and an assortment of other missiles, but none have the range and power of the Oreshnik.
Held in Belarus
The Russian Defense Ministry said last month that Oreshnik had been deployed to Belarus and entered active duty. He did not specify how many missiles were sent to Moscow’s key ally and whether they were equipped with nuclear warheads, but Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said up to 10 Oreshnik systems would be stationed there.
Russia has previously placed tactical nuclear weapons inside Belarus, whose territory it used to launch its invasion of Ukraine.
In 2024, Putin launched a revised nuclear doctrine that placed Belarus under Russia’s atomic umbrella. The document significantly lowered the threshold for the possible use of nuclear weapons, stating that any conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is backed by a nuclear power would be considered a joint attack on the country. The threat was clearly intended to deter the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons.
Unlike Russia’s other shorter-range conventional weapons, the Oreshnik is capable of delivering a powerful, conventional strike anywhere in Europe, giving the Kremlin a new tool for escalation without using its nuclear arsenal. There will be no way to know whether the missile is carrying a nuclear or conventional warhead before it hits the target.
Russia message using Oreshnik
When Russia first used the Oreshnik, Putin described it as a response to Ukraine’s Western allies, allowing them to use their longer-range weapons to strike Russian territory.
His latest blow comes as US-led efforts to end the war in Ukraine have entered a crucial stage and appears to underline Putin’s intention to negotiate from a position of strength as his troops make slow but steady territorial gains.
Some Russian military bloggers noted that the strike in Lviv, not far from the Polish border, was a message to Kiev’s allies. Those members of the “coalition of the willing” have proposed sending their troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees once a peace deal is reached.
Russia has said it will not accept any European forces in Ukraine, considering them legitimate targets.
“For the first time, the NATO command was shown a strike with strategic weapons practically on its border,” military expert Valery Shiryayev said. “This action is intended to demonstrate the determination of Russia’s military and political leadership to use such nuclear warhead weapons if necessary.”
The attack comes less than a week after the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a Russian ally. The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the US action as an act of aggression and harshly criticized the US seizure of a Russian-flagged tank on Wednesday.