Russia may be ready to use new lethal missile against Ukraine again in ‘coming days’: US

US officials see the experimental Oreshnik missile more as an attempt at intimidation than a game-changer on the battlefield in Ukraine

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 21 announced a successful test of the latest medium-range Oreshnik missile. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:59pm, 11 Dec 2024Updated: 12:16am, 12 Dec 2024

A US intelligence assessment has concluded that Russia may use its lethal new intermediate-range ballistic missile against Ukraine again in “coming days”, a US official said on Wednesday.

The experimental Oreshnik missile is seen by US officials more as an attempt at intimidation than a game-changer on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive information.

The official said Russia has only a handful of the missiles and that they carry a smaller warhead than other missiles that Russia has regularly launched at Ukraine.

Russia first fired the weapon in a November 21 missile attack against the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Surveillance camera video of the strike showed huge fireballs piercing the darkness and slamming into the ground at astonishing speed.

A reporter films parts of a missile that were collected for examination from the impact site in the town of Dnipro following an attack on November 21. Photo: AFP

Within hours of the attack on the military facility, Russian President Vladimir Putin took the rare step of speaking on national TV to boast about the new hypersonic missile.

He warned the West that its next use could be against Ukraine’s Nato allies who allowed Kyiv to use their longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia.