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Russia fired its hypersonic Oreshnik rocket overnight astatine Ukraine, Moscow confirmed connected Friday, striking a metropolis hardly miles distant from the Ukrainian borderline with Poland, astatine a clip erstwhile efforts to forge a bid woody are sputtering.
Some experts accidental that Moscow carried retired this onslaught to intimidate Ukraine’s European and Western allies.
Here is simply a person look astatine what happened, wherefore the usage of the Oreshnik is significant, and wherefore each of this matters.
What happened?
The Russian subject carried retired the onslaught amid broader strikes connected Ukrainian vigor infrastructure and drone manufacturing sites successful and astir Kyiv.
It added that the battle was carried retired successful effect to an alleged Ukrainian drone onslaught connected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence successful Novgorod successful December 2025.
Kyiv has denied that Ukraine attacked Putin’s residence. United States President Donald Trump has besides rejected the assertion that specified an onslaught took place.
According to Ukraine, the latest strikes killed 4 radical and injured astatine slightest 22 successful Kyiv.
Russia besides deed captious infrastructure successful Lviv with an unidentified ballistic rocket travelling astatine astir 13,000km/h (more than 8,000mph), according to Mayor Andriy Sadovyi and Ukraine’s Air Force, which said the nonstop benignant of rocket was inactive being determined.
Where successful Ukraine was the Oreshnik attack?
According to Russia, the onslaught successful Lyiv was from the Oreshnik.
The occidental Ukrainian metropolis of Lviv is astir 550km (340 miles) distant from the capital, Kyiv.
Lyiv is adjacent the borderline with Poland, astir 70km (45 miles) away.
What is the Oreshnik?
The Oreshnik is an intermediate-range ballistic rocket — the connection means hazel histrion successful Russian. The missile’s aggregate warheads autumn successful streaks of light, seemingly resembling the tree.
Hypersonic missiles question astatine speeds of astatine slightest Mach 5 – 5 times the velocity of dependable – and tin manoeuvre mid-flight, making them harder to way and intercept.
The Oreshnik is besides a nuclear‑capable weapon, meaning it is designed to beryllium capable to transportation a atomic warhead, adjacent if it is not ever deployed with one.
The Oreshnik is believed to beryllium a medium-range missile, with its usage truthful acold suggesting a scope of astir 1,000 to 1,600km (620 to 990 miles).
Russia has lone fired the Oreshnik erstwhile before, successful November 2024. Back then, Moscow said that it had attacked a Ukrainian subject factory.
This onslaught came days aft the US authorities led by erstwhile Democratic President Joe Biden authorised Ukraine to usage US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to onslaught targets successful Russia.
In 2024, the Pentagon said that the Oreshnik was based connected the “RS-26 Rubezh” intercontinental ballistic rocket (ICBM) archetypal developed successful 2008.
Putin has said that the intermediate-range Oreshnik rocket is intolerable to intercept due to the fact that of speeds reportedly much than 10 times the velocity of dependable and that its destructive powerfulness is comparable with that of a atomic weapon, adjacent erstwhile fitted with a accepted warhead.
On December 30, 2025, Russia deployed the Oreshnik strategy successful Belarus successful a determination which could fortify Moscow’s quality to people Europe successful a imaginable aboriginal conflict.
Why was this onslaught peculiarly significant?
During the onslaught successful November 2024, the Oreshnik missiles were equipped with dummy warheads arsenic a trial attack, according to Ukrainian sources, Reuters quality bureau reported.
Hence, the dummy warheads did constricted harm to Ukraine backmost then.
If the missiles were equipped with explosives during the caller attack, it would people the archetypal clip that Russia utilized the Oreshnik missiles to their afloat non-nuclear capableness portion striking Ukraine.
Another crushed wherefore this onslaught is important is the determination of the target.
Back successful November 2024, the missiles deed Dnipro, which is successful east-central Ukraine and is not adjacent to Ukraine’s borders with different countries.
However, this time, the missiles deed adjacent to Poland, which is simply a subordinate of NATO.
Kyiv has labelled the usage of the limb adjacent to the European Union and NATO borderline a “grave threat” to European security.
“Such a onslaught adjacent to [the] EU and NATO borderline is simply a sedate menace to the information connected the European continent and a trial for the transatlantic community. We request beardown responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote connected societal media.
“Vladimir Putin is utilizing this to pass with the West, due to the fact that helium could undoubtedly execute the aforesaid operational effects without this missile,” Cyrille Bret, a Russia adept astatine the Paris-based Montaigne Institute, told the AFP quality agency.
A UK authorities spokeswoman said that, successful a telephone connected Friday, the leaders of United Kingdom, France and Germany condemned Russia’s usage of the rocket arsenic “escalatory and unacceptable”.
Why does this matter?
The latest Russian onslaught comes arsenic bid talks aimed astatine ending the warfare successful Ukraine proceed to stall. In February, the warfare volition participate its 5th year.
The latest onslaught risks undermining those ceasefire negotiations, astatine a clip erstwhile the 2 sides stay acold isolated connected halfway issues specified arsenic territory.
Observers and analysts person antecedently told Al Jazeera that the contented of territorial concessions remains a large sticking point.
Trump’s 28-point bid plan for Ukraine, which helium unveiled successful November 2025, progressive Ukraine ceding not lone ample amounts of onshore that Russia has occupied during astir 4 years of war, but besides immoderate territory that Kyiv’s forces presently control. Zelenskyy has stated connected galore occasions that this is unacceptable to Ukraine.
Most analysts are sceptical that immoderate advancement has been made connected this constituent and said the latest intensification successful warring volition not, by itself, adhd to the already important complications successful talks.
“I don’t deliberation determination is thing to derail astatine this point,” Marina Miron, an expert astatine King’s College London, told Al Jazeera successful December 2025.
The bid process “is not going good owed to disagreements connected cardinal issues betwixt Ukraine and Russia”, she said.
Mikhail Alexseev, a prof of governmental subject astatine San Diego State University, told Al Jazeera that Moscow’s extremity is not to “end oregon derail” bid talks, but alternatively it is to “keep them going arsenic a screen and an enabler of continuing Russian brutal penetration successful an effort to hitch Ukraine disconnected the world’s representation careless of quality cost”.
“Russia started the warfare and Putin tin extremity it successful 5 minutes if helium wanted to bash so. All helium needs to bash is to hold to [US] President [Donald] Trump’s unconditional ceasefire proposals made aboriginal this year.”
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