Looking at the videos, it looks like they fired blanks again, or low yield explosives? But these weapons are terrifying, and I don’t think anything can shoot them down yet. Consequently, it shows that Russia could wipe out Zelensky and most of the Ukrainian leadership quite easily, so they’re fighting the war slowly per some preset rules with the western OCGFC, as both sides are profiting.
https://southfront.press/russia-sends-strong-message-to-kiev-with-oreshnik-strike-videos/
The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) was used in a group strike that targeted drone production facilities, energy infrastructure and other military-related facilities inside Ukraine over the night of January 8 and 9.
The strike was carried out in response to an attempted “terrorist attack by the Kiev regime” on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Novgorod Region, the ministry said in a statement.
“The Russian Armed Forces launched a massive strike with high-precision long-range ground- and sea-based weapons including the Oreshnik mobile ground-based medium-range missile system as well as attack unmanned aerial vehicles at critically important facilities on the territory of Ukraine,” the statement reads. “All the assigned targets have been hit. Production facilities of unmanned aerial vehicles that were used during the terrorist attack as well as power infrastructure enterprises that supported the defence industry of Ukraine have been damaged.”
The ministry went on to warn that “any terrorist actions by the criminal Ukrainian regime will not remain unanswered in the future.”
The existence of the Oreshnik [hazel shrub] first became known on November 21 of 2024 when Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address, announced its first combat use against a military facility, Pivdenmash, near the city of Dnipro in the southeastern Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk.
Last August, Putin announced that the Oreshnik had entered production and service. Around the same time reports of plans to deploy the system in Belarus also began to emerge. This was confirmed later in December by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko himself.
What sets Oreshnik apart from other IRBMs is its high speed, which reportedly exceeds Mach 10, in addition to its payload, which consists of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles – previously exclusively used by nuclear weapons – equipped with six warheads, each reportedly containing submunitions.
The Oreshnik is widely described as a hypersonic missile, as its reentry vehicles have the ability to maneuver at a speed over Mach 5 at low altitudes in the atmosphere.
Videos purported to show the latest Oreshnik first emerged from the western Ukrainian region of Lviv late on January 8, with Mayor Andrey Sadovoy announcing early on the next day that “a piece of critical infrastructure” had been struck in the region.
Numerous projectiles coming down from the skies in rapid succession are seen in the videos, which is characteristic of the system.
Russian Telegram channels suggested that the Oreshnik hit an underground gas facility in the city of Striy, about 60 kilometers south of Lviv capital.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that Ukraine was hit by an Oreshnik missile, calling for a “clear reaction from the world.”
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement that the overnight group strike included, in addition to the hypersonic IRBM, at least 242 attack drones of various types and 36 missiles, including 13 Iskander-M tactical ballistic missiles and 22 Kalibr land-attack cruise missiles.
The air force also alleged that the Oreshnik was launched from the Kapustin Yar test site in Russia’s Astrakhan region, which is located more than 1,500 kilometers away from Lviv.
Despite claiming that most of the drones and missiles were intercepted, the air forces admitted that 19 sites across the country were hit.
The overnight strike was clearly a warning to Ukraine. Instead of Lviv, the Oreshnik could have hit multiple decision-making centers in Kiev simultaneously. This shows that Russia is still serious about the peace process. Moscow could, however, act in an even more decisive manner if Kiev opts to escalate again.