Russia's use of hypersonic missile brings fresh threat to Europe and NATO
Russia's inclusion of the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) in its latest missile and drone strikes on Ukraine has drawn attention well beyond the immediate battlefield - raising urgent questions about the wider security implications for Europe and NATO alike.
Russia's inclusion of the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) in its latest missile and drone strikes on Ukraine has drawn attention well beyond the immediate battlefield - raising urgent questions about the wider security implications for Europe and NATO alike.
The nuclear-capable, hypersonic missile was launched against Lviv on 8 January as part of an intensive overnight attack on western, central and southeastern Ukraine, comprising 278 Russian missiles and drones.
While the physical damage caused specifically by the Oreshnik strike in Lviv was largely contained to the workshop of a state enterprise, the significance of this attack lies in what it signals rather than what it destroyed.
With a reported range of up to 5,500 kilometres, it theoretically puts much of Europe within reach.
Its immense speed of Mach 10-11, too, is integral to its danger: the faster a missile travels, the less time missile defence systems have to detect, track and intercept it.
Moscow fires hypersonic missile
The Royal United Services Institute has previously assessed that an IRBM travelling at Mach 10 could reach Britain within 10 minutes if launched from western Russia.
While Ukraine has hit successful missile interception rates of 80% in the past, this dropped to a new low of 54% shot down or suppressed by the last quarter of 2025; hypersonic ballistic missile systems are designed to reduce those interception rates even further.
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Some defence analysts have questioned whether Oreshnik is as groundbreaking as has often claimed, suggesting it may be a modified version of the existing RS-26 Rubezh IRBM missile.
