Russia confirmed Oreshnik missile

Moscow (dpa) —Russia on Sunday confirmed the third use of its new intermediate-range Oreshnik ballistic missile to target Ukraine.

The Russian Defence Ministry said it was deployed in response to Ukrainian “terrorist attacks” on Russian civilian targets, the Interfax news agency reported.

Ukrainian authorities said the missile struck the major city of Bila Tserkva in the Kiev region.

Moscow has also stationed the Oreshnik missile, which means “hazel bush” in Russian, in Belarus. The weapon can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.

Its extremely high speed of up to 12,000 kilometres per hour, with a range of up to 5,000 kilometres, makes it a potential threat to the entire European continent.

Zelensky described the Oreshnik strike as “truly irresponsible.”

“It is important that this does not go without consequences for Russia,” he said. He gave no details of damage in Bila Tserkva.

It was, according to Zelensky, the third use of the weapon in Russia’s war against Ukraine — once without warheads in Dnipro in south-eastern Ukraine and most recently in January in western Ukraine.

Zelensky had already warned the previous evening, citing information from Western intelligence services, of a new Oreshnik attack.