During the meeting, Putin claimed that no country has the means to intercept the intermediate-range ballistic missile, making it a “reliable guarantor of Russia's territorial integrity.” He also stated that the missile's "testing" would continue, suggesting that he’s prepared to use it against Ukraine again.
The dictator claimed that Oreshnik is not a modernization of old Soviet systems but a "result of work by specialists from the new Russia."
However, Western experts believe the IRBM is a derivative of RS-26 Rubezh ICBM, which was first tested in 2012.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) reported that the Nov. 21 attack on Dnipro was most likely carried out using a Kedr IRBM, which had successful flight tests in October 2023 and June 2024.