Russian Nuclear-Capable Missile Oreshnik Deployed in Belarus

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russia has deployed a newly developed hypersonic, nuclear-capable missile known as the Oreshnik on Belarusian territory and placed it on combat duty.

“Oreshnik has been in Belarus since yesterday. And it’s going on combat duty,” Lukashenko said during his annual address. He had previously said the Russian missile system would be placed on combat duty in December.

Russia first unveiled the weapon last year after using it in a strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Nov. 21, 2024. Moscow had already stationed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in 2023 and earlier said it could deploy the Oreshnik missile there by the end of 2025.

Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service said Saturday, Dec. 13, that Russia is preparing to deploy the Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile in Belarus as part of a broader effort to pressure European countries.

“We see preparations for the deployment of the ‘Oreshnik’ medium-range ballistic missile on the territory of Belarus,” said Oleg Ivashchenko, head of the agency.

Ivashchenko said Russia and Belarus are building facilities for launchers, along with surveillance and communications systems, but that the work is not yet complete.

He said Russia could place a launcher in Belarus without the full infrastructure, but it would serve only as a mock-up. Even if deployed, he added, the missile would remain under the command of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, with no control transferred to Belarus.

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Ukrainian intelligence says the move is meant to pressure European countries and NATO and to protect the missile from possible Ukrainian strikes. Based in Belarus, the missile would have shorter flight times to European capitals than if launched from Russia’s Kapustin Yar test range.

Ivashchenko has previously said Belarus hosts missile delivery systems but not nuclear warheads.

Western analysts believe Oreshnik is a modified version of the Soviet-era RS-26 Rubezh medium-range ballistic missile, with a range of more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) and the ability to carry multiple nuclear-capable or conventional hypersonic re-entry vehicles.

In October, Vasyl Maliuk, head of Ukraine’s Security Service of Ukraine, said Ukrainian forces destroyed one of three Russian Oreshnik launchers at Kapustin Yar in 2023. He said the operation remains classified.