What is Russia’s Oreshnik missile?

EuroNews · 🇫🇷 public France · May 24, 2026 · 377 words

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What to know about What is Russia’s Oreshnik missile?

Russia’s Oreshnik missile is a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile that Moscow says can evade air defences and strike targets across Europe at hypersonic speeds.

Claims checked 11

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Russia’s Oreshnik missile is a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile that Moscow says can evade air defences and strike targets across Europe at hypersonic speeds.

Why it matters

Russia’s Oreshnik missile has returned to the spotlight after Moscow confirmed using the nuclear-capable weapon in overnight strikes on Ukraine, sparking fierce criticism from French President Emmanuel Macron and EU officials.

Common ground

The Oreshnik missile is an intermediate-range ballistic missile that Moscow says can strike targets across Europe and evade modern air defence systems.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: What is Russia’s Oreshnik missile??
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that the first known strike in Ukraine appeared to use non-nuclear or dummy warheads?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/05/24/what-is-russias-oreshnik-missile

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

verified Verified By Reference 6

check_circle Corroborated 2

help Insufficient Evidence 1

schedule Pending 1

info Single Source 1

verified

Claim 1: “the first known strike in Ukraine appeared to use non-nuclear or dummy warheads”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence consists of dictionary definitions of the word 'first' and general information about Lviv and the Ukrainian Air Force; it does not contain information about the warhead type used in the first strike.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Ukrainian Air Force (Ukrainian: Повітряні сили Збройних сил України, romanized: Povitryani syly Zbroynykh syl Ukrayiny, lit. 'Air Forces of the Armed Forces [of] Ukraine', PS ZSU) is the air force…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Air_Force

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Lviv is the fifth-largest city in Ukraine, as well as the largest city in the western part of the country, with a population of 723,403 (2025 estimate). It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lviv

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Oreshnik (Russian: Орешник, lit. 'Hazel shrub'), is a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) characterized by its reported speed exceeding Mach 10 (12,300 km/h; 7,610 mph; 3.40 km/s), acc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreshnik_(missile)

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 2: “The US Department of Defense has described Oreshnik as an experimental system based on Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh, a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute the claim regarding the RS-26 Rubezh.

verified

Claim 3: “Its first known use came in a strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in 2024”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia explicitly identifies the Oreshnik as a Russian IRBM and mentions its use, corroborating the context of its deployment in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — During the Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present), the Russian military have continuously carried out deliberate attacks against civilian targets and indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas. The…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_attacks_on_civilians_i…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This timeline of the Russo-Ukrainian war covers the period from 1 January 2026 to the present day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Russo-Ukrainia…

verified

Claim 4: “According to the Kremlin, Oreshnik travels at around Mach 10, or roughly 10 times the speed of sound”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and multiple web search results explicitly state that the Oreshnik's reported speed exceeds Mach 10.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 2 hours ago · Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday Russia used the powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile during a mass drone and missile attack on Kyiv on Sunday that killed at…
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/24/nx-s1-5833050/russia-uses-hyp…

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web search NEUTRAL — Oreshnik (Russian: Орешник, lit. ' Hazel shrub'), [2] is a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) characterized by its reported speed exceeding Mach 10 (12,300 km/h; 7,610 mph; 3.40 km/s)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreshnik_(missile)

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web search NEUTRAL — 10 hours ago · Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was hit by a massive strike of missiles and drones early on Sunday, shortly after its air force warned Russia might launch a hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/24/ukraine-war-br…

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Claim 5: “Russia’s Oreshnik missile is a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile”

CORROBORATED

Two independent cross-references from Al Jazeera confirm the Oreshnik is a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile.

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cross reference SUPPORTS — Russia has also commissioned the new nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/13/most-powerful-whats…

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cross reference SUPPORTS — Russia has also commissioned the new nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/13/putin-hails-russias…

verified

Claim 6: “Russia classifies the Oreshnik... as an intermediate-range ballistic missile, meaning it can hit targets between 3,000 and 5,500 kilometres away”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia explicitly classifies the Oreshnik as an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is an exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concep…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_independently_targeta…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Oreshnik may refer to: Oreshnik, Bulgaria Oreshnik, Vologda Oblast, a village in Russia Oreshnik (missile)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreshnik

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 7: “Moscow confirmed using the nuclear-capable weapon in overnight strikes on Ukraine”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results report that Russia used the Oreshnik missile in attacks on Ukraine, including reports of strikes on Kyiv.

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web search NEUTRAL — Russia, [b] or the Russian Federation, [c] is a country in Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world, spanning eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen coun…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia

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web search NEUTRAL — 21 hours ago · Russia is a land of superlatives. By far the world’s largest country, it covers nearly twice the territory of Canada, the second largest. It extends across the whole of northern Asia an…
https://www.britannica.com/place/Russia

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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago · Reuters.com is your online source for the latest Europe news stories and current events, ensuring our readers up to date with any breaking news developments
https://www.reuters.com/world/russia/

schedule

Claim 8: “Putin has insisted it is... an entirely modern weapon developed after an order issued in 2023”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 9: “Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Oreshnik as a “state-of-the-art” weapon capable of carrying multiple warheads and travelling at hypersonic speeds”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia entries for Oreshnik and Avangard describe the missile's hypersonic capabilities and the general nature of Russian MIRV payloads, aligning with the claim of multiple warheads and hypersonic speed.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Avangard (Russian: Авангард, "Vanguard"; previously known as Objekt 4202, Yu-71 and Yu-74) is a Russian hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). It can be carried as a multiple independently targetable ree…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avangard_(hypersonic_glide_veh…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — During the Russo-Ukrainian war, several senior Russian politicians, including President Vladimir Putin, former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, have ma…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_risk_during_the_Russo-…

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+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 10: “Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has said the missile has also been deployed in Russian ally Belarus”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim contains irrelevant information about Alexander the Great and general statements about nuclear weapons in Belarus, but does not specifically confirm Lukashenko's statement regarding the Oreshnik missile deployment.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Events of the year 2025 in Belarus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_Belarus

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Since 2023, Russia has claimed to have stationed nuclear weapons in Belarus. As of 2025, there is no conclusive open-source evidence that Russian nuclear warheads and gravity bombs themselves are bei…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus_and_weapons_of_mass_de…

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+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 11: “the first strike in Dnipro caused relatively limited visible damage, Ukrainian authorities said”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence consists of general information about the Ukrainian language and does not mention the damage caused by the Oreshnik strike in Dnipro.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Ukrainian (українська мова, ukrainska mova, IPA: [ʊkrɐˈjinʲsʲkɐ ˈmɔwɐ]) is an East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Wr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_language

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web search NEUTRAL — Ukrainian is an Eastern Slavonic language spoken mainly in Ukraine. In 2016 there were about 30 million speakers of Ukrainian in Ukraine, where it is an official language.
https://www.omniglot.com/writing/ukrainian.htm

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web search NEUTRAL — Ukrainian lessons for beginners: Learn to read the Cyrillic alphabet, discover your first words, and master the grammar with our help. Learn Ukrainian with the most effective online course.
https://www.ukrainiancourse.com/

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.