Ukraine shows fragments of new Russian missile after ‘Oreshnik’ strike

UNDISCLOSED, Ukraine — Ukraine on Sunday showed journalists fragments of the Russian missile used to strike the city of Dnipro last week, after Moscow said it had tested its new Oreshnik ballistic missile.

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Russia on Thursday carried out a strike on the city which President Vladimir Putin said was a test of its new Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).

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Ukraine’s SBU security service displayed metal fragments, ranging from bulky to tiny, on fake grass in front of camouflage netting at an undisclosed location Sunday, AFP journalists saw.

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The SBU did not name the missile used but said it was a type they had not seen before.

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Oleg, one of its investigators, told journalists that “this is the first time the debris of such a missile has been found on the territory of Ukraine.

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“This item had not been documented by security investigators before,” he added.

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Oleg said that investigators are examining the fragments and will later “provide answers” on the characteristics of the missile.

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He said that the missile was ballistic and had caused damage to civilian and “other infrastructure” in Dnipro.

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In a televised address Thursday, Putin said Russia used the IRBM in response to Ukraine’s firing US ATACMS and UK Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory, after the Kyiv allies lifted a ban on it using long-range weaponry to fire into Russia.

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Putin said the missile flies at 10 times the speed of sound and cannot be intercepted by air defences.

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The president said it hit a defence industry production facility in Dnipro “which still produces missile equipment and other weapons”.

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A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman was heard answering a phone call about a strike on Yuzhmash during a press briefing. Yuzhmash is the Russian name of an aerospace manufacturer in Dnipro now called Pivdenmash.Â

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Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has confirmed whether this was the target.

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Putin has promised more combat testing of the Oreshnik missile and said it will go into serial production.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the strike “the latest bout of Russian madness” and appealed for updated air-defence systems to meet the new threat.

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The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence has said Kyiv knew several prototypes of the missile had been produced before it was fired.