Putin Announces Oreshnik Missile to Achieve Combat Readiness by Year-End 2025

President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday that Russia’s new intermediate-range ballistic missile, known as Oreshnik, is expected to be ready for operational deployment by the end of this year.

The missile, which translates to «hazel tree» in Russian, was first publicly unveiled in November 2024 after its use in a strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. At that time, Putin referred to the attack as a successful test and emphasized that its first deployment in combat served as a warning to the United States and the United Kingdom, who were considering supplying Ukraine with long-range weaponry capable of reaching deep into Russian territory.

Last month, Putin stated that Russia had commenced the transition to mass production of the Oreshnik, having previously claimed that its destructive capabilities rival those of a nuclear weapon and asserted that it is impossible to intercept. However, some experts have voiced doubts regarding these assertions.

“By the end of this year, the new medium-range missile system equipped with the hypersonic missile Oreshnik will be deployed for combat readiness,” Putin declared during a significant gathering of senior military officials in Moscow on Wednesday.

Russia has also announced plans to station the missile in neighboring Belarus, which shares borders with Ukraine and NATO countries. Last month, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko mentioned that the Oreshnik would be operational there by the end of 2025.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has cautioned that the missile’s range poses a danger to Europe and has urged Western nations to impose sanctions on the Russian firms involved in its development.