President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Russia tested a hypersonic intermediate-range missile in an assault on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Ukraine.
What is the Oreshnik, Russia’s new ballistic missile?
The new intermediate-range ballistic missile, Oreshnik, which means hazel tree in Russian, is a nuclear-capable weapon that has not been previously mentioned publicly.
The Pentagon said it is based on the “RS-26 Rubezh” intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Hypersonic missiles travel at speeds of at least Mach 5 – five times the speed of sound – and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.
The missile can have three to six warheads, military expert Viktor Baranets wrote in the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid.
