The essay presents Russia’s road-mobile Oreshnik, derived from the RS-26, as a conventional intermediate-range missile with a stated range of 3,500–5,500 km and speeds above Mach 10, first used at Dnipro in November 2024 and later near Lviv and Kyiv, and on duty in Belarus by late 2025.

It argues kinetic impact, not a special plasma warhead, explains the glowing reentry, and that the lack of radiation makes it a lower political threshold than a nuclear strike—an author’s claim, not an independent damage assessment.

The West is said to have no public equivalent; flight time to European targets is put at about 10–20 minutes, with inertial guidance only because the plasma sheath blocks radio updates.

The Russian Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile represents a significant shift in strategic strike options. Capable of delivering devastating, precise effects through pure kinetic energy and the plasma generated by its extreme speed, it offers a way to neutralize high-value military and governmental targets without the indiscriminate radiation and mass casualties of nuclear weapons. 

In this respect, this conventional capability is superior for limited but high-impact strikes, and the West currently lacks a direct equivalent. This asymmetry gives Russia a notable advantage in scenarios involving Europe.

The Oreshnik is a road-mobile, solid-fueled intermediate-range ballistic missile derived from the RS-26 Rubezh design. It travels at speeds exceeding Mach 10—over 12,000 km/h—and has an estimated range of 3,500 to 5,500 kilometers, sufficient to reach targets across much of Europe from Russian or Belarusian territory. Its payload uses a........

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