At site of Russia's Oreshnik strike, Putin's propaganda lies in ruins

Destroyed garages at the impact site of an Oreshnik ballistic missile strike in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, on May 25, 2026. (Anna Nesevra / The Kyiv Independent) In a dusty industrial estate in the city of Bila Tserkva, a Ukrainian grandmother searches through the smouldering ruins of her storage unit for her harvest of potatoes. Two days earlier it had been hit with what is supposed to be one of Russia's most fearsome weapons — an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).

"It sounded like thunder, a very long, drawn-out thunder. And then there were six explosions in a row," Nadiia, a Bila Tserkva resident who declined to give her last name, told the Kyiv Independent. But for a weapon costing over $50 million and which is supposed to make the collective West shudder in fear, the damage it caused was underwhelming. Although the strike destroyed a handful of storage units — the grandmother's, one containing automobile parts, and another containing plumbing supplies — the majority of the site was untouched. The hypersonic munitions smashed their way to the units' underground levels, but there was nothing in the way of a crater. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the missile's first known combat use when it struck the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024, describing it as impossible to "counteract," and a "new conventional intermediate-range" missile. Russian military commentators and pro-Kremlin analysts have since portrayed Oreshnik as a strategic deterrent aimed as much at NATO as at Ukraine. But the May 24 strike on Bila Tserkva, the third such attack against Ukraine, has confirmed what many suspected all along — a non-nuclear Oreshnik is an expensive dud , and Russia lacks the expertise to turn it into a useful conventional weapon. Despite Putin's claims that Oreshnik — which means "hazel shrub" in English — is a completely new weapon, experts and analysts agree it is actually a slightly upgraded version of the older RS-26 Rubezh . Oreshnik is nuclear-capable and in theory can carry 36 sub-munitions carried by six MIRVs - multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles. These can be seen in videos of Oreshnik strikes as separate streaks of light hitting the ground. It can likely reach speeds of around Mach 10 to 11 but it's this speed which partially explains why each strike on Ukraine has done such little damage.

Key points

• "It sounded like thunder, a very long, drawn-out thunder.
• And then there were six explosions in a row," Nadiia, a Bila Tserkva resident who declined to give her last name, told the Kyiv Independent.
• But for a weapon costing over $50 million and which is supposed to make the collective West shudder in fear, the damage it caused was underwhelming.
• Although the strike destroyed a handful of storage units — the grandmother's, one containing automobile parts, and another containing plumbing supplies — the majority of the site was untouched.
• The hypersonic munitions smashed their way to the units' underground levels, but there was nothing in the way of a crater.