Oreshnik ballistic missile flew over Kazakhstan's sky in the early morning of November 21.
On November 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had used a new ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads called "Oreshnik".
According to the leader, the weapon was launched at Ukraine's defense industry facility in Dnipro, and affirmed that the attack was successful.
According to Russian President Putin, current Western air defense systems cannot intercept the Oreshnik missile and this weapon can attack targets at a speed of Mach 10 - about 12,300 km/h.
Oreshnik flies to UK in just 19 minutes
From available information, military experts believe that Oreshnik has an effective range of more than 5,500 km and it is still considered a medium-range ballistic missile.
Regarding the Oreshnik's attack capabilities, the system can be deployed anywhere if it uses a mobile launcher based on the RS-26 mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) platform.
The Russian Oreshnik missile launch site from the Astrakhan region is more than 1,000km from the target in Dnipro. (Photo: Bloomberg)
If placed in northwestern Russia, for example in Murmansk and Kaliningrad, the Oreshnik could strike most NATO military bases in Europe.
All European countries from Poland, the Baltics, Portugal to England are within Oreshnik's range of attack.
According to the Military Chronicle, using solid-fuel propulsion, Oreshnik takes only 19 minutes to reach the UK, 11 minutes to reach Germany and 8 minutes to reach Poland.
Along with the video of the attack in the early morning of November 21, Oreshnik is likely equipped with 3 to 6 nuclear or conventional warheads. Each nuclear warhead has a destructive power of 150 kilotons.
According to Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh: "Oreshnik can certainly be modified to carry a variety of conventional or nuclear warheads."
Jeffrey Lewis, a non-proliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said Russian President Putin had previously hinted that Russia would complete the development of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) system after Washington and Berlin agreed to deploy US long-range missiles in Germany from 2026.
The impact of the Oreshnik missile on NATO
According to the Kremlin, the attack on Dnipro was in response to Ukraine's use of US ATACMS missiles and British-made Storm Shadow missiles to attack Russia's Bryansk and Kursk provinces earlier.
Russia's new ballistic missile attack has shocked the world, as the Ukrainian air force initially announced that it was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead - a weapon designed to attack strategic targets, often in a war between superpowers.
Oreshnik can be deployed anywhere using a launcher based on a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) platform.
Experts say the new missile launch clearly conveyed President Putin’s message. If Western countries continue to provide long-range weapons for Ukraine to attack Russian territory, the conflict risks spiraling out of control and the Kremlin could order an attack on the US or a NATO member.
Observers say this scenario could push the Ukraine conflict from a war between two countries into a destructive nuclear war between superpowers.
Almost all targets in Ukraine are within range of the conventional weapons that Moscow has deployed throughout the conflict. But this time, Russia decided to launch a longer-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, which observers said was "very notable".
Timothy Wright, an expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said Russia's development of new missiles could influence NATO countries' decisions about which air defense systems to buy and which strike capabilities to pursue.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/ten-lua-oreshnik-nga-su-dung-tan-cong-ukraine-khong-the-bi-danh-chan-ar909011.html
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