A reporter films parts of a missile that were collected for examination from the impact site in the town of Dnipro following an attack, on November 24, 2024 at a forensic expert center in an undisclosed location in Ukraine.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Ukraine on Sunday (November 24, 2024) showed journalists fragments of the Russian missile used to strike the city of Dnipro last week, after Moscow said it had tested its new Oreshnik ballistic missile.

Russia on Thursday carried out a strike on the city which President Vladimir Putin said was a test of its new Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).

Ukraine’s SBU security service displayed metal fragments, ranging from bulky to tiny, on fake grass in front of camouflage netting at an undisclosed location Sunday, AFP journalists saw.

The SBU did not name the missile used but said it was a type they had not seen before.

Oleg, one of its investigators, told journalists that “this is the first time the debris of such a missile has been found on the territory of Ukraine.”

“This item had not been documented by security investigators before,” he added.

Oleg said that investigators are examining the fragments and will later “provide answers” on the characteristics of the missile.

He said that the missile was ballistic and had caused damage to civilian and “other infrastructure” in Dnipro.

In a televised address Thursday, Mr. Putin said Russia used the IRBM in response to Ukraine’s firing U.S. ATACMS and U.K. Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory after the Kyiv allies lifted a ban on it using long-range weaponry to fire into Russia.

Mr. Putin said the missile flies at 10 times the speed of sound and cannot be intercepted by air defences.

The President said it hit a defence industry production facility in Dnipro “which still produces missile equipment and other weapons”.

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman was heard answering a phone call about a strike on Yuzhmash during a press briefing. Yuzhmash is the Russian name of an aerospace manufacturer in Dnipro now called Pivdenmash.

Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has confirmed whether this was the target.

Mr. Putin has promised more combat testing of the Oreshnik missile and said it will go into serial production.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the strike “the latest bout of Russian madness” and appealed for updated air-defence systems to meet the new threat.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence has said Kyiv knew several prototypes of the missile had been produced before it was fired.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with the Ministry of Defence leadership, representatives of the defense industry, and missile systems developers in Moscow, Russia, on November 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said on Friday (November 22, 2024) that Russia would keep testing its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile in combat and had a stock ready for use.

Mr. Putin was speaking a day after Russia fired the new intermediate-range weapon into Ukraine for the first time, a step he said was prompted by Ukraine’s use of U.S. ballistic missiles and British cruise missiles to hit Russia.

The Kremlin leader described the missile’s first use as a successful test, and said more would follow.

“We will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and the nature of the security threats that are created for Russia,” he said in televised comments to defence officials and missile developers.

“Moreover, we have a stock of such products, a stock of such systems ready for use,” he said.

A U.S. official, however, said the weapon Russia used was an experimental one. The official said Russia has a limited number of them and that this is not a capability that Russia is able to regularly deploy on the battlefield.

Intermediate missiles have a range of 3,000-5,500 km (1,860-3,415 miles), which would enable them to strike anywhere in Europe or the western United States from Russia.

Security experts said the novel feature of the Oreshnik missile was that it carried multiple warheads capable of simultaneously striking different targets – something usually associated with longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Ukraine said the missile reached a top speed of more than 13,000 kph (8,000 mph) and took about 15 minutes to reach its target from its launch.

The firing of the missile was part of a sharp rise in tensions this week as both Ukraine and Russia have struck each other’s territory with increasingly potent weapons.

Moscow says that by giving the green light for Ukraine to fire Western missiles deep inside Russia, the U.S. and its allies are entering into direct conflict with Russia. On Tuesday (November 19, 2024), Mr. Putin approved policy changes that lowered the threshold for Russia to use nuclear weapons in response to an attack with conventional weapons.

Severe Escalation

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia’s use of the new missile amounted to “a clear and severe escalation” in the war and called for strong worldwide condemnation. He said Ukraine was working on developing new types of air defence to counter “new risks”.

The Kremlin said the firing of the Oreshnik was a warning to the West against taking further “reckless” actions and decisions in support of Ukraine.

The Oreshnik was fired with conventional, not nuclear, warheads. Mr. Putin said it was not a strategic nuclear weapon, but its striking power and accuracy meant that its impact would be comparable, “especially when used in a massive group and in combination with other high-precision long-range systems”.

He said the missile was incapable of being shot down by an enemy.

“I will add that there is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasize once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production,” he said.