All that was left of it were charred wires and an ashen body the size of a large winter tire
This was reported by the Associated Press news agency.
“The weapon, which can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, was reduced to charred, mangled wires and an ashy body the size of a large winter tire,” the publication writes.
The remains of the missile are in an undisclosed location. An SBU representative noted that this is the first time such a missile has been discovered in Ukraine, so it needs to be studied in detail.
The missile had six warheads, each carrying six submunitions. Its maximum speed was Mach 11 (13,475 km/h or almost 4 km/s). It was established that the Russian military launched the missile from the 4th Kapustin Yar missile range in the Astrakhan region of Russia. It reached the Dnieper River in 15 minutes.
Earlier, Ukrainian intelligence officers said that the name “Oreshnik” used by the Russians is actually a code. The GUR believes that the occupiers could have used a ballistic missile from the Kedr mobile missile system. And according to the Pentagon, the missile was created on the basis of the Russian RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
- On the morning of November 21, the Russians attacked Ukraine. The strikes in Dnepr damaged a building of a rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, a boiler room, and two private homes. The Air Force reported that the Russians used an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time. President Volodymyr Zelensky later confirmed that the missile's characteristics and speed were consistent with the ICBM type.
- That evening, Vladimir Putin said that Russia had fired an “experimental Oreshnik ballistic missile” at Ukraine, allegedly capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. He called it a response to Ukraine's use of ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles in the Kursk and Bryansk regions.
- The EU responded to the strike on the Dnieper and said that Putin is thinking about escalation, not peace.
- A source of LB.ua in the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that Russia has only a few units of the experimental medium-range ballistic missile that struck the Dnieper. At the same time, partners have air defense systems capable of shooting down missiles of this type.
- Foreign Minister Andriy Sygiba called on Ukraine's partners to provide air defense systems capable of shooting down such missiles. He also emphasized that Russia's use of a medium-range ballistic missile is its typical blackmail. Putin is trying to intimidate everyone who supports Ukraine.