A MISSILE WITH A SPEED OF MACH 10 DOES SEEM IMPOSSIBLE TO INTERCEPT

Russia flaunts 'unstoppable' nuclear missile for first time in Belarus as WW3 fears escalate

 

By Stacy Liberaatore 

 

Daily Mail

Dec 30, 2025

 

 

The Russian missile system "Oreshnik" has entered combat duty in Belarus.

 A Russian RS-24 Yars mobile Oreshnik missile launcher 

 

Russia appears to have deployed its so-called ‘unstoppable’ nuclear-capable missiles, potentially bringing the threat of devastating strikes closer than ever. 

On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry released a video claiming to show combat vehicles in an undisclosed location in Belarus carrying the Oreshnik missile system. 

State news agency TASS said it was the first time the ministry had publicly shown the Oreshnik, which President Vladimir Putin has declared impossible to intercept, with speeds reportedly exceeding Mach 10.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said that the Oreshnik has a range of up to 3,100 miles. Reports have suggested it could hit London in 'eight minutes.'

TASS boasted that it would take the missile only 11 minutes to reach an air base in Poland and 17 minutes to reach NATO headquarters in Brussels. 

While the Oreshnik is not an intercontinental missile capable of reaching the US mainland, its reported range puts American allies within striking distance, meaning any attack on them could draw the US directly into the conflict. 

The announcement comes at a critical time for Russia-Ukraine peace talks. Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort on Sunday and insisted that Kyiv and Moscow were 'closer than ever before' to a peace settlement. 

However, days before, Trump warned that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war could spiral into a world war.

'Things like this end up in a third world war,' he told reporters on December 11. 'Everybody keeps playing games like this, you'll end up in a third world war, and we don't want to see that happen.'

 

On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry released a video showing combat vehicles in an undisclosed location in Belarus carrying the Oreshnik missile system

A satellite image taken on November 16 shows where US researchers believe that Russia is likely stationing its new nuclear-capable Oreshnik hypersonic cruise missile at the disused airbase Krichev in eastern Belarus near Russia's border

 

Andrey Bogodel, the deputy chief of the General Staff department of the Military Academy of Belarus, told TASS that the deployment of Oreshnik was an anti-aggression warning to Western countries.

'Today, any good deed must, of course, be done with fists. Unfortunately, the world can no longer be organized any other way,' he said.

'Here, the "Oreshnik" isn't a weapon with which we want to attack, for example, Britain or Germany, but it's a message that we, above all, will protect our peace in this way. A way that will allow us to say that it's definitely better not to interfere with us.'

Bogodel added that Western nations had repeatedly crossed red lines during Russia’s so-called special military operation in Ukraine.

'Literally, there are red lines associated specifically with the use of missile systems, even nuclear weapons. After all, remember the appearance of the missiles they launched on us – SCALP, Storm Shadow, then ATACMS,' the expert continued.

'They also used drones against our radiation early warning stations. As well as attacks against our bombers, and so on. This is all an attempt to see how high Russia’s nuclear threshold is.'

The missile system was first used on November 21, 2024, in a test that saw it strike a defense plant in Ukraine. 

Once launched, the Oreshnik uses its rocket engines to accelerate rapidly until it reaches the upper atmosphere, where its first-stage boosters are discarded after fuel depletion, Matthew Powell, Teaching Fellow in Strategic and Air Power Studies, University of Portsmouth, wrote in The Conversation.

 

A Russian military unit can be seen putting netting over what is said to be the Oreshnik mobile ground-based missile system

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said that the Oreshnik has a range of up to 3,100 miles. Reports have suggested it could hit London in 'eight minutes

 

The missile’s multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) are then released, traveling through space toward their designated targets. 

At this stage, the system is most vulnerable to interception, as it is moving more slowly than during earlier phases. Finally, onboard thrusters guide each MIRV to its target zone.

Putin has claimed that conventional Oreshnik missiles could incinerate targets with temperatures reaching 7,200°F, nearly as hot as the surface of the sun, though the weapon is also capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

The Oreshnik is estimated to be 49 to 61 feet long with a diameter of roughly six feet. 

While unconfirmed, experts have suggested the Oreshnik weighs between 66,000 and 88,000 pounds.

The system is also said to carry a warhead weighing up to 1.5 tons, approximately 3,300 pounds.

Putin said earlier this month that the Oreshnik would enter combat duty before the year's end. 

He made the statement at a meeting with top Russian military officers, where he warned that Moscow will seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands in peace talks.

While Trump stated a peace settlement between Kyiv and Moscow could be on the horizon, he also admitted that monthslong US-led negotiations could still collapse.

Moscow and Kyiv remain deeply divided on key issues, including whose forces withdraw from where in Ukraine and the fate of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the 10 biggest in the world.