MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/. The Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile system has assumed combat duty in Belarus, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.
"A solemn ceremony was held in the Republic of Belarus for the unit outfitted with the Oreshnik road-mobile missile system to assume combat duty. The flag of the Strategic Missile Force was raised after the end of the military ritual of placing crews on combat duty," the ministry said in a statement.
Before the Oreshnik missile system went on combat duty in Belarus, its launch combat crews, signal corps, security and power supply personnel, and also drivers-mechanics of the missile system’s components had undergone advanced training on modern simulators, it specified.
The Oreshnik road-mobile intermediate-range missile system was employed for the first time in November 2024 when a hypersonic missile with a non-nuclear payload hit a Ukrainian military-industrial site in Dnepropetrovsk.
A day after the Oreshnik missile system was used in 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had a stock of these ready-made missiles and that their serial production had already been arranged.