In a significant escalation of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on November 21 the deployment of the advanced hypersonic ballistic missile, ‘Oreshnik’ (translated as ‘Hazel’), against a military-industrial target in Ukraine. The missile reportedly struck a facility in the city of Dnipro, marking what Putin called a “combat test” of the weapon. The move has heightened tensions between Russia and NATO, raising concerns over the future trajectory of the conflict and its broader geopolitical implications.

President Putin described the missile strike as a response to Ukrainian attacks on military installations in Russia’s Kursk region. According to Putin, Ukrainian forces used a combination of US-supplied ATACMS and HIMARS systems, as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles, to launch attacks on November 19 and 21. These strikes reportedly caused casualties at a Russian command center but failed to significantly disrupt operations.

The Russian president claimed that the ‘Oreshnik’ missile successfully hit a prominent military-industrial complex in Dnipro, widely believed to be the Yuzhmash aerospace facility, a Soviet-era establishment now involved in missile and weapons production for Ukraine.

Putin also vowed to publicly announce future strikes involving the ‘Oreshnik’ system to allow civilians to evacuate targeted areas, stating that such warnings would not compromise the effectiveness of the strikes. He emphasized that the missile’s hypersonic capabilities-traveling at speeds of 2.5 to 3 kilometers per second, or approximately Mach 10-render existing air defense systems powerless against it.

The introduction of the ‘Oreshnik’ missile marks a new phase in modern warfare. Hypersonic missiles, which combine speed, maneuverability, and precision,........

© Blitz