Newsman: The Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday that Russia had deployed its latest nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system to the country, a move that comes as talks to end the war in Ukraine have entered a crucial phase.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the Oreshnik will enter combat duty this month but didn’t give any other details. Putin made the statement at a meeting with top Russian military officers, where he warned that Moscow will seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands in peace talks.
President Alexander Lukashenko said the Oreshnik, an intermediate range ballistic missile system, arrived in the country on Wednesday and is entering combat duty. He didn’t say how many missiles have been deployed or give any other details. Lukashenko has earlier said that his country has several dozen Russian tactical nuclear weapons.
Russia previously has deployed tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of Belarus, whose territory it used to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Intermediate-range missiles can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). Such weapons were banned under a Soviet-era treaty that Washington and Moscow abandoned in 2019.
The Russian leader has said that Oreshnik’s multiple warheads plunge at speeds of up to Mach 10 and can’t be intercepted, and that several of them used in a conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack.
Russian state media boasted that it would take the missile only 11 minutes to reach an air base in Poland and 17 minutes to reach NATO headquarters in Brussels. There’s no way to know whether it’s carrying a nuclear or a conventional warhead before it hits the target.
Putin and Lukashenko have previously said that the Oreshnik will be deployed to Ukraine before the year’s end.
Russia first tested a conventionally armed version of the Oreshnik — Russian for hazelnut tree in November 2024, and Putin have boasted that it’s impossible to intercept.
Putin has warned the West that Russia could use it next against allies of Kyiv that allowed it to strike inside Russia with their longer-range missiles.
While signing a security pact with Lukashenko in December 2024, Putin said that even with Russia controlling the Oreshniks, Moscow would allow Minsk to select the targets. He noted that if the missiles are used against targets closer to Belarus, they could carry a significantly heavier payload.
