Russia on Sunday used the powerful hypersonic ballistic missile called Orishnik to strike Ukranian capital Kyiv, killing at least two people. Dubbed as a “state-of-the-art” weapon by Kremlin, the virtually indestructible Oreshnik missile has been used for the third time in the four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.
The intense aerial assault, accompanied by drones, caused extensive damage to residential buildings, schools and government offices. It injured at least 83 people.
“In response to Ukraine’s terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure on Russian territory, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a massive strike using Oreshnik ballistic missiles, Iskander air-launched ballistic missiles, Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched ballistic missiles and Tsirkon cruise missiles,” Russia said, confirming the use of the missile.
Russia may have launched the most powerful attack on Kyiv in two years last night and early morning, surpassing the numerous waves of attacks it has carried out on Ukrainian territory during the last one and a half year. The Oreshnik missile was used in this attack on the… pic.twitter.com/iYz7GdTPvT
— @Suriyak (@Suriyakmaps) May 24, 2026
Oreshnik Can Carry Nuclear Warhead
The Oreshnik missile, first fired in 2024 on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, making it one of the most formidable arms in Russia’s possession.
Described as Russia as an intermediate-range missile, it can cover distances between 3,000 and 5,500 kilometres, hitting targets from afar.
In 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Oreshnik has “dozens of warheads, homing warheads”. But he added that it cannot cause mass destruction because “there is no nuclear warhead, and that means there is no nuclear contamination after its use”.
However, military experts argue that Oreshnik is capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Putin himself confirmed that the destructive elements of the missile can almost reach the temperature of the surface of the sun.
“Therefore everything in the epicentre of the explosion breaks up into fractions, into elementary particles, essentially into dust,” he had said in 2024.
Oreshnik can attack targets “throughout Europe”, according to Sergei Karakayev, who leads Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, which controls the country’s nuclear arsenal.
Oreshnik travels at 10 times the speed of sound, Mach 10, which makes it almost impossible for today’s interceptors to destroy it. To put that into perspective, 10 times the speed of sound is 2.5-3 kilometres per second.
Putin in 2024 said the missile is “not a modernisation of an old, Soviet system”, while the United States described it as an “experimental” weapon based on Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh ICBM.
Oreshnik, which literally translates to “Hazelnut shrub” in Russian, was developed on the basis of a 2023 order by Putin.
