Russia may launch its new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) against Ukraine for the second time "in the coming days," the Associated Press (AP) reported on Dec. 11, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
Russia launched its new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Dnipro in Ukraine on Nov. 21. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the strike was in response to Ukraine's use of American and British weapons to target deeper within Russia.
Washington still sees the experimental Oreshnik missile more as "an attempt at intimidation than a game-changer on the battlefield in Ukraine," a U.S. official told reporters on condition of anonymity, referring to a U.S. intelligence assessment.
Russia has only "a handful" of the Oreshnik missiles, and they carry a smaller warhead than other missiles that Russia has regularly launched at Ukraine, AP reported, citing an official.
In early December, the Moscow Times reported, citing four Russian official sources, that the media blitz following the strike on Dnipro was a carefully staged stunt designed to scare off the West.
The Oreshnik is likely not a new Russian development but a modification of the RS-26 missile, also known as the Rubezh, Fabian Hoffmann, a defense expert and doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo, told the Kyiv Independent.
"I think basically they (Russians) just took apart the RS-26 or just cannibalized it, and then put together this new missile with a couple of upgrades, and a new paint job."
First produced in 2011, and successfully tested in 2012, the Rubezh is a 36,000 kilogram, nuclear capable, intermediate-range ballistic missile with a known range of 5,800 kilometers.
Chris York
(Updated: )
