US Official Warns: Russia Could Launch a Second Oreshnik

(Patria) - Russia could launch a second supersonic ballistic missile in Ukraine in the coming days, but Washington believes the Oreshnik will not significantly change the situation in the war, said a US official. Russia has not commented on these claims.

- We assess that the Oreshnik is not something that will significantly change the situation on the battlefield, but rather just another attempt by Russia to terrorize Ukraine, which will not succeed - said an unnamed US official, reports Hina.

Russia launched its first supersonic ballistic missile, Oreshnik, at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on November 21. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the time that it was a response to Ukraine's first attack on Russian territory with American ATACMS missiles and British Storm Shadows, with the permission of the US and its Western allies.

Putin has previously said that Russia could use the Oreshnik again, among other things, to hit decision-making centers in Kyiv if Ukraine continues to attack Russia with long-range Western weapons.

Putin claims that this supersonic missile is impossible to intercept and that it has destructive power comparable to nuclear weapons even when equipped with a conventional warhead.

US officials have downplayed the usefulness of this missile. They called it experimental and stated that Russia likely possesses "only a handful" of them.

The official also said that the weapon has a smaller warhead than other missiles that Russia has deployed in Ukraine.

Washington also says that new shipments of American air defense equipment are on their way to Ukraine.

Some Russian and Western officials have pointed out that the war is entering its final and most dangerous phase, with Moscow's forces advancing at a speed unprecedented since the early weeks of the conflict.

The newly elected US President Donald Trump, who takes office next month, has called for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war quickly, which has cast doubt on Washington's long-term support for Ukraine.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused tens of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced people, and has caused the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.