New Russian nuclear-capable missile 'Oreshnik' deployed in Belarus

AFP and Global Watch | 2025-12-23

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said a newly developed Russian hypersonic, nuclear-capable missile known as the "Oreshnik" had been deployed in Belarus.

Russia unveiled the weapon last year after using it to strike the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, in an escalation during the conflict, now nearing its fourth anniversary.

Moscow had already deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in 2023 and said it could station Oreshnik there by the end of 2025.

"Oreshnik has been in Belarus since yesterday. And it's going on combat duty," Lukashenko said in his annual speech on December 18.

Belarus, a former Soviet republic, is a key Russian ally. Moscow used Belarusian territory to launch its offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.

In August, Minsk said it would practice the deployment of Oreshnik missiles during the joint Zapad-2025 ("West-2025") drills close to the European Union and NATO's eastern flank border.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has touted the capabilities of the intermediate-range ballistic missile since it was unveiled.

The missile has "dozens of warheads, homing warheads", he said at a summit in Kazakhstan following the strike on Dnipro.

Putin added that the missile does not cause mass destruction because "there is no nuclear warhead, and that means there is no nuclear contamination after its use".

Putin said a day later that Oreshnik is a "precision weapon", not a weapon of mass destruction.

Air defenses cannot intercept the Oreshnik, which attacks at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5-3km (1.6-1.9 miles) per second, Putin has said, adding that it can strike "even targets that are highly protected and located at a great depth".

Hypersonic missiles travel at speeds of at least Mach 5 -- five times the speed of sound -- and can maneuver mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.

"Modern air defense systems... cannot intercept such missiles. That's impossible," Putin claimed.

Kremlin hype

Russia continues to tout the technological supremacy of its weapons, even as Ukrainian operatives slip deep inside Russia to destroy the very arms the Kremlin insists the world should fear.

In late October, Security Service of Ukraine chief Vasyl Maliuk disclosed a covert operation in which Ukrainian intelligence destroyed one of Russia's Oreshnik missiles.

Citing Maliuk, Ukrainian media reported that the missile was destroyed at the Kapustin Yar test site in Astrakhan region.

UNIAN quoted Maliuk on October 31 as saying the mission achieved "one hundred percent destruction." He said only the Ukrainian president was initially briefed, along with several foreign leaders.

According to Maliuk, the operation occurred in summer 2023, long before Russia began publicly showcasing the Oreshnik.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later confirmed that Russia had three Oreshnik missiles at the time; one was launched in November 2024 at the city of Dnipro.

Kochetkov said Ukrainian operatives did "fantastic work" in eliminating the missile, even if the weapon itself was unremarkable despite Kremlin hype.

He said the operation required sabotage from inside the test site -- recruiting a staff or security member to bring in an explosive device. He called it a "brilliant accomplishment" by Ukrainian intelligence services.