Charred, mangled wires and an ashy airframe the size of a large snow tire was all that remained of the missile, which can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads
Ukraine has put the wreckage of Russia’s new experimental missile on display days after it was used for a brutal strike.
On Thursday, Russia fired its new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine, striking a factory in the central city of Dnipro. Vladimir Putin said the strike was n response to Kyiv’s use of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into his country.
Today, Ukraine’s Security Service showed wreckage of the new missile to the media. Fragments of the missile, called Oreshnik – Russian for hazel tree, and which the Pentagon said is based on Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile – have not been analysed yet, according to security officials on site in an undisclosed location in Ukraine.
After being shown to journalists, the fragments were taken away by investigators. Charred, mangled wires and an ashy airframe the size of a large snow tire was all that remained of the weapon, which can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads.
“It should be noted that this is the first time that the remains of such a missile have been discovered on the territory of Ukraine,” said an expert with Ukraine’s Security Service, who identified himself only by his first name Oleh because he wasn’t authorised to discuss the issue with the media. Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the missile was fired from the 4th Missile Test Range, Kapustin Yar, in Russia’s Astrakhan region and flew for 15 minutes before striking Dnipro.
The missile had six warheads, each carrying six submunitions. The peak speed was 11 Mach – about 13,600 kph. Two people were wounded as a result of the missile attack earlier this week, local officials said. They added that in addition to the industrial facility, a rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities was damaged too.
Today, Ukraine’s air force said at least 73 Russian attack drones entered the country’s airspace overnight between Saturday and Sunday. Ukraine said it downed 50 of the drones, while 19 more were lost in flight and four more were still flying in Ukrainian airspace at around 7am local time. Russia’s Defence Ministry reported downing 36 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Russia said its own strikes were part of a wider campaign of attacks on “military airfields, production facilities and storage sites for drones, as well as concentrations of enemy manpower and military equipment.” Drone exchanges have been a constant element of the war between Russia and Ukraine – with Putin’s country often combining its drone barrages with missile strikes.
“This week, the air alert sounded almost every day throughout Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram early Sunday. “During the week, Russia used more than 800 guided aerial bombs, about 460 attack drones and more than 20 missiles of various types against Ukraine and our people.”
He added: “Ukraine is not a weapons testing ground. Ukraine needs more air defense, and we are working on this with our partners. It is very important to strengthen the protection of our sky.” Tensions rose earlier this week as Ukraine targeted Russia with the ATACMS long-range missile from the US for the first time hours before Putin approved his new nuclear doctrine.
The strike hit a military facility near the city of Karachev, in the region of Bryansk Oblast, which is located about 130km – 80 miles – from the Ukrainian border overnight. Initially, the strike was reported by a source linked to the Ukrainian Defence Forces, but the Russian Defence Ministry later confirmed it too. The source said: “Indeed, ATACMS was used for the first time to strike the territory of the Russian Federation. The strike was carried out on a facility in the Bryansk region, it was successfully destroyed.”
