NEW YORK, November 28. /TASS/. Russia’s Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile became the longest-range weapon ever used in conflict on the European continent, Western military analysts told The New York Times.
Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear nonproliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies said the recent strike on the Yuzhmash missile-producing plant in Ukraine demonstrated Russia’s "real military capability" in the conflict, inflicting major damage to Ukrainian forces.
In turn, Tom Karako, who is the director of the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington (CSIS, designated as an undesirable organization in Russia), said Oreshnik warheads, even when inert, "cause a heck of a lot of damage" due to high speeds they fly with. Besides, the speed "can make them very difficult for air defense systems to intercept, and near impossible if submunitions are released."
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 21 that the US and its NATO allies had announced authorizing the use of longer-range weapons. Following the announcement, US and UK missiles attacked Russian targets in the Kursk and Bryansk regions, according to the president.
Russia responded by firing its newest Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile with a non-nuclear warhead at a Yuzhmash Ukrainian defense industry plant in the city of Dnepr, Putin said. The Russian leader said the West could bring upon itself heavy consequences, should its inflammatory policies prompt further escalation of the conflict.