What to Know About the Oreshnik, the Missile Russia Used Against Ukraine
Ever since Russia first used a new intermediate-range ballistic missile to strike Ukraine in late 2024 — a nuclear-capable weapon that President Vladimir V. Putin called “unstoppable” — Ukrainians have anxiously waited to see when it would be launched again.
On Friday morning, Moscow said that it had fired another of the missiles, known as the Oreshnik, in a strike that hit western Ukraine overnight. Russia said that it had hit drone-making and energy infrastructure related to Ukraine’s war effort. No casualties were reported.
Lithuania
Moscow
Belarus
Russia
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Kyiv
Explosions
reported
near Lviv
Ukraine
Missile likely launched
from Kapustin Yar,
Ukraine said
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The latest Oreshnik strike, about 40 miles from the border with Poland, a NATO country, offered a reminder to alliance members in Europe that they lie within range of Russia’s arsenal as tensions over Ukraine peace talks intensify.
Here’s what you need to know about the Oreshnik missile
-- Is it a new weapon?
Is it a new weapon?
Mr. Putin has promoted the Oreshnik as an example of Russian technological prowess, built by a domestic military industry unimpeded by Western economic sanctions.
The Pentagon says the Oreshnik is a tweak of Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh missile, an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, that has been tested since 2011.
The name Oreshnik means “hazelnut tree” — a potential reference to its sub-munitions, which resemble clusters of hazelnuts, according to Timothy Wright, an expert on Russian missiles at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based research group. The missile carries multiple warheads that separate in flight and plummet onto a target.
Its first known use was in November 2024, when Russia fired an Oreshnik at a military facility in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. That attack, which Mr. Putin said was in response to Ukraine’s use of American and British weapons to strike deeper into his country, was seen as a warning that Moscow could hit any part of Europe with the missile.
The Ukrainian authorities said that they were examining the components of the missile used in Friday’s attack, which struck western Ukraine, near Lviv.
Wreckage from the 2024 crash site, in central Ukraine, showed some physical differences between the Oreshnik and Rubezh missile systems, with the Oreshnik measuring about three and a half feet in circumference, compared to nearly six feet for the Rubezh.
That might be because the Oreshnik is designed to fly shorter distances than the Rubezh. As an intercontinental ballistic missile, the Rubezh would effectively be able to reach targets anywhere on earth, experts said, while an intermediate-range ballistic missile like the Oreshnik would be able to fly only about 3,410 miles. That would allow it to reach most of Europe.
Intermediate-range ballistic missiles were banned for decades under a now-defunct treaty that grew out of President Ronald Reagan’s historic meeting with the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, in 1986 and was considered a critical step in defusing Cold War tensions.
That treaty was effective for years, but the United States pulled out of the agreement in 2019, during President Trump’s first term. The Trump administration argued that Russia had long been violating the pact. Russia, which denied any knowledge of the violations, said in August of last year that it would no longer abide by the terms of the treaty.
Based on previous tests, experts say they believe the Rubezh can carry up to four warheads. Ukrainian officials said the Oreshnik used in Dnipro had carried six warheads, each with a cluster of six sub-munitions.
How much damage did it do?
The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, said that a critical infrastructure facility had been hit but did not provide further details.
Russia said it had successfully struck drone-making and energy sites. Drones now dominate the battlefield in Ukraine, making attacks on production facilities a priority for Moscow. The Kremlin has also been carrying out a campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that the ballistic missile used in the attack traveled at a speed of about 8,000 miles per hour. The Oreshnik has often been described as a hypersonic missile; such weapons can travel at least 3,800 miles per hour.
Ballistic missiles are propelled into the atmosphere by rockets before descending at high speeds because of gravity’s pull. That can make them very difficult for air defense systems to intercept, and near impossible if sub-munitions are released.
A Ukrainian assessment found that the warheads used on Friday contained no explosives, according to Col. Roman Kostenko, the secretary of the defense and intelligence committee in Ukraine’s Parliament. Those findings suggested that Russia fired the missile largely in an attempt to send a message, one that some European officials said they took as a threat.
What has the fallout been?
The use of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik is highly symbolic because Moscow has repeatedly raised the threat of nuclear war in its conflict with Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry called the strike near Lviv a response to an attempted Ukrainian attack last month on one of Mr. Putin’s residences in Russia. Ukrainian officials have called the Kremlin’s claims of an attack on the residence a lie intended to derail recent peace talks, and U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that there is no evidence that such an attack occurred.
On Friday morning, Ukraine’s foreign minister warned that the Oreshnik strike was “a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the trans-Atlantic community.”
“We demand strong responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” the foreign minister, Andriy Sybiha, said in a statement, noting that Ukraine had informed the United States, European nations and international organizations about the attack.
European officials rushed to condemn the strike.
Lithuania’s foreign minister, Kestutis Budrys, called it “a cynical spit to the faces of everyone who seeks peace.” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said it was “a clear escalation against Ukraine and meant as a warning to Europe” and the United States.
John Ismay and Evelina Riabenko contributed reporting.
Lara Jakes, a Times reporter based in Rome, reports on conflict and diplomacy, with a focus on weapons and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. She has been a journalist for more than 30 years.
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