MOSCOW.- The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenkothe Kremlin’s closest ally said this on Thursday A Russian new-generation hypersonic missile with nuclear capability, known as “Oreshnik,” is already deployed in your country.
Russia unveiled the weapon last year after using it to attack the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, escalating the conflict that is now approaching its fourth anniversary.
Moscow had already stationed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in 2023 and stated that it could station the “Oreshnik” there exactly by the end of this year.
“The Oreshnik has been in Belarus since yesterday. And it is being accepted into combat service.”Lukashenko said in his annual speech.
Belarus, a former Soviet republic, is a key ally of Moscow, which used Belarusian territory to launch its offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.
Last August, the Belarusian government announced that it would deploy Oreshnik missiles near the EU-NATO eastern flank border during the Zapad-2025 (“West-2025”) joint exercises.
Oreshnik is a new Russian medium-range ballistic missile capable of hitting its targets at hypersonic speeds of Mach 10which is almost equivalent three kilometers per second.
The Russian Armed Forces first fired this hypersonic missile against a real target in the special military operation area in November 2024.
The Oreshnik’s debut was part of a joint attack on Ukraine’s military industry. The weapon was used with a conventional hypersonic equipment and all of their warheads hit their respective targets.
The power of a massive attack with the Oreshnik can be equivalent to that of a nuclear attack: everything at the epicenter of the explosion is divided into fragments and turns into dust.
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, “there is no possibility of shooting down these missiles,” which have a range of up to 5,500 kilometers.
“It’s a bit of a flying Chernobyl”he said, referring to Ukraine’s former nuclear power plant, which became synonymous with nuclear disaster after it exploded in 1986.
Last September, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov said his country had since been forced to deploy the missile system on its territory to ensure its security The West was “trampled” the principles of international security. “We had no choice,” he stressed, adding that in his opinion Minsk was neither participating in an arms race nor provoking a confrontation.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament in Strasbourg called on the European Union to do so this Thursday adopt specific sanctions against those responsible for Belarus’ hybrid attacks against Member States, like the wave of smuggled balloons that hit Lithuania.
In a resolution with 438 votes in favour, 37 against and 48 abstentions, the European Parliament called for additional specific sanctions against Belarusian officials, state and private entities and individuals involved in the production and use of drones following the incidents in Lithuanian airspace.
The resolution expresses full solidarity with Lithuania and supports the country’s right to adoption “Proportionate defensive measures”and also called for the cessation of all hybrid activities against Lithuania by Minsk, which is demanding the release of the arrested European transporters and their assets.
They also suggested sanctions that should be responded to “all hybrid operations targeting critical infrastructure, economic activities and democratic institutions”including cases of cyberattacks, state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, economic coercion and the instrumentalization of migration.
MEPs denounce a sharp increase in airspace violations and point out that this is the case “deliberate, coordinated and hostile” and are part of a broader strategy by Russia to undermine the EU, its member states and NATO.
Agencies AFP and DPA
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