Russia’s hypersonic missile has entered service, will be deployed in Belarus: Putin

Moscow: President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia has started production of its newest hypersonic missiles and reaffirmed its plans to deploy them to ally Belarus later this year.

Sitting alongside Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Valaam Island near St Petersburg, Putin said the military already has selected deployment sites in Belarus for the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile.

“Preparatory work is ongoing, and most likely we will be done with it before the year’s end,” Putin said, adding

that the first series of Oreshniks and their systems

have been produced and entered military service.

Russia first used the Oreshnik, which is Russian for “hazelnut tree,” against Ukraine in November, when it fired the experimental weapon at a factory in Dnipro that built missiles when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.

Putin has praised the Oreshnik’s capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack.

He warned the West that Moscow could use it against Ukraine’s NATO allies.