Russia's silent missile: A warning without a bang

Let us recall that the Orezhnik missile hit the Dnipro on 21 November. It is now known that Russia's new ballistic missile, which the aggressor employed to intimidate the world, had multiple warheads but contained no explosives. Consequently, the missile caused little damage.

The statements of Ukrainian officials corroborate the Kremlin's description, which asserts that the weapon's deployment was intended as a warning to the West in light of lifted restrictions on the capability to conduct attacks deeper into Russian territory (with ATACMS missiles).

The informants cited by Reuters indicate that what is currently known about the Orezhnik is that it is long-range ammunition designed primarily for nuclear attacks on targets thousands of kilometres away. “In this case, (the missile) was without explosives...There were no types of explosions like we expected. There was something, but it was not huge," one of the informants told Reuters.

The specification of the Orezhnik remains shrouded in mystery to this day. Some sources suggest that the missile might have been based on the RS-26 Rubezh missile, but there is still no evidence to confirm this hypothesis. The difficulties in determining the specification also apply to the aforementioned RS-26 system, which is also kept secret by the Russians; furthermore, there is a lack of specific documentation related to its specification in the public domain.

Experts, however, point out that among the available information about the RS-26, the most credible is the information suggesting a launch weight between 44 and 55 tonnes. According to reports, the range of this missile may be up to 6,000 kilometres, and it is typically equipped with four separate warheads, each with a yield of 0.3 Mt.