The president of BelarusAlexander Lukashenko, announced this Thursday the deployment of a dozen systems Russian Oreshnik missiles in the country and has left the door open to the arrival of more of these projectiles in the future.
“A dozen for now, and then we’ll see. If the Russians want, we will deploy more”Lukashenko said in an interview in his country, which was echoed by Russian news agencies.
On November 21, Russia successfully tested the medium range ballistic missile Oreshnik against a facility of a Ukrainian military-industrial complex. A few weeks later, Lukashenko, after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, revealed that he had requested the deployment of this type of arsenal on Belarusian territory.
The test was a response to Ukraine’s use of American- and British-made long-range missiles during the war against Russian territory, especially in the Kursk and Bryansk provinces. The Russian leader then said that in this way “one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems” that cannot be intercepted by any air defense system was tested in combat conditions. So far, Russia has not used the Oreshnik again in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin had also said in the past that the targets of the missiles installed in Belarus could be chosen by Lukashenko’s own government. At the same time, the head of the Kremlin specified that sending the Oreshniks to their ally would be possible only in the second half of 2025.
In Ukraine, this new weapon generated fear in the population, leading some to once again seek protection in shelters when anti-aircraft alarms are issued.
Last Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted in an interview that Russian senior military officials are debating the need to test the Oreshnik missile under combat conditions and begin its production. “In the Ministry of Defense there were different points of view on the matter. In the end, I joined those who believed it should be produced, gave direct instructions to do it, and allocated the necessary resources. “I also agreed with those who believed that the time had come to test it under combat conditions,” he said.
The head of the Kremlin assured that the Russian Army would alert the Ukrainian civilian population if it used Oreshnik again “for humanitarian reasons” and because “today there are no means to counteract these weapons.”
He stated that the new missiles attack targets at a speed of 2.5 or 3 kilometers per second and modern air defense systems in the world cannot intercept them.
(With information from EFE and EP)
