Putin announces that Russia will deploy its new hypersonic missile before the end of the year

The ruler of Russia, Vladimir Putin, announced this Wednesday that the new Russian hypersonic ballistic missile Oréshnik will enter service in the Armed Forces before the end of the year.

According to EFE, “the medium-range missile system with the hypersonic Oréshnik missile will be deployed.” Putin made these statements while addressing the top brass of the Army and the Ministry of Defense of Russia, where he emphasized the need to modernize the Armed Forces and maintain nuclear parity.

In this context, he stated that a priority for Moscow is to improve its strategic nuclear forces, which he attributed a key role in "deterring the aggressor" and maintaining the balance of power.

The Oréshnik is a medium-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which could theoretically strike targets thousands of kilometers away with an error margin of "just a few dozen meters."

EFE adds that these missiles would have been used for the first time at the end of 2024 during an attack on a military factory in the eastern Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk.

According to the same material, Belarus, an ally of Russia in the war in Ukraine, will also deploy Oréshnik missiles granted by Moscow before the end of 2025, according to "official sources." In 2023, Russia deployed tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.

The war in Ukraine and the front

In the same setting before the military dome, the document states that Putin assured that the Russian Army will militarily conquer what he referred to as "historic Russian territories" in Ukraine —referring to four Ukrainian regions annexed by Moscow— if diplomacy fails.

He also stated that Russia will fulfill “all the objectives” of the so-called “special military operation” that began nearly four years ago and mentioned that the Army maintains the strategic initiative.

Putin claimed that this year Russian troops have "liberated" more than 300 localities, although he notes that independent experts from the Institute for the Study of War estimate that the area conquered by Moscow constitutes less than 1% of Ukrainian territory.

On his part, Russian Defense Minister Andréi Beloúsov asserted that there are “real conditions” for the war to continue in 2026 due to the stance of Kiev and its European allies, and predicted the collapse of the front as “inevitable” because of the Russian advance.