“New Era of Missile War”. By launching Oreshnyk, Putin wants to make Ukraine and NATO believe in Russia’s readiness to escalate — The Economist

The publication writes that these threats “should be taken seriously, but not always literally,” since Ukraine has already repeatedly used Western missiles against Crimea and other Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, which Putin considers “Russian”, without provoking “dramatic escalation”.

According to Western officials, Putin did consider using nuclear weapons in late 2022, but his military was retreating at the time.

American and European intelligence sources say that Putin remains determined to avoid an open military confrontation with NATO, as a strike on the territory of one of the Alliance countries is likely to trigger NATO’s fifth article on mutual defense.

The Economist believes that Putin’s statements “should be taken with a grain of salt.” In the past, he has boasted about Russia’s Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, sometimes exaggerating their capabilities.

According to Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, the Oreshnyk itself was based on the RS-26 missile, which was first tested 13 years ago, meaning the missile was not “a revolutionary new weapon”, but the strike itself is probably part of the Russian Federation’s efforts to dissuade Western countries from helping Ukraine. An important audience, in particular, was supposed to be the new administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, which is still “fine-tuning” its approach to war.

It is noted that the Oreshnyk missile was initially classified by both the US and Russia as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Even though it has a shorter range, such ballistic missiles are complex and expensive weapons that are almost always associated with those that carry a nuclear warhead.

However, according to the article, the November 21 Strike was carried out with inert or dummy warheads, which have significant kinetic energy due to their speed but do not contain explosives — one indication that the missile was designed for nuclear rather than conventional use. .

In addition, Russia informed the United States about the strike 30 minutes before its task through communication channels designed to reduce the nuclear risk, although the American side knew about a certain threat even the day before, when they closed their embassy.

It is reported that the use of Oreshnik and similar missiles is part of it “a new era of missile warfare”: apart from Russia, the largest ever volley of ballistic missiles at Israel was carried out by Iran, and Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles against it. On November 17, India announced that it had tested its own hypersonic missile with a range of 1,500 km.

In addition, in 2026, the US plans to deploy non-nuclear medium-range missiles in Germany, and Europe is cooperating on the creation of its own systems “deep blow”.

The Economist writes that Oreshnyk is the first ever medium-range missile with several warheads to be used in combat.

“And maybe not the last,” the article says.

Russia’s attack on the Dnipro with the Oreshnyk ballistic missile – what is known

The Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that on the morning of November 21, Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile over Ukraine from the Astrakhan region, it was flying towards the Dnipro.

According to Defense Express analysts, the Russians, having launched an intercontinental ballistic missile over Ukraine for the first time, demonstrated the possibility of a nuclear strike.

Ukrainian Pravda, citing its sources, reported that the occupiers probably used the RS-26 Rubizh medium-range intercontinental ballistic missile to strike Ukraine for the first time.

Later, the Reuters agency, with reference to Western officials, said that the countries of the West had not previously confirmed the use of an intercontinental ballistic missile by Russia during the attack on Ukraine.

In an evening video message, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said that Russian troops attacked the Dnipro with the latest Oreshnik medium-range system.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that the Defense Forces previously carried out long-range strikes on targets in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia, but dictator Putin began “fuss” only when strikes were carried out on targets on the territory of the Russian Federation.