Russian expert says Moscow carried out strike on Ukraine with new Oreshnik missile as 'warning'

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The recent launch of Russia's Oreshnik missile towards Ukraine sends a strong message to the West, underscoring Russia's determination to defend its interests, military expert Viktor Litovkin said on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday that in response to the US and its NATO allies’ authorization of the use of their long-range high-precision weapons for strikes inside Russia, Moscow delivered a strike on a war plant in Ukraine’s city of Dnipro with the Oreshnik, a non-nuclear hypersonic ballistic missile.

Commenting on the strike in an interview with Anadolu, Litovkin said the missile, capable of carrying either high-explosive or nuclear warheads, has a range of 5,500 kilometers (3,418 miles), effectively covering all of Europe.

"The missile’s hypersonic speed – Mach 10, or three kilometers per second – makes it impossible for the West to intercept," he said.

He added that its kinetic power allows it to penetrate fortified structures, making it a formidable weapon against strategic targets.

Litovkin cited past instances, such as the Kinzhal missile's impact on an underground armament depot in Ukraine's Ivano-Frankivsk region.

“It broke through earthen and concrete barriers, demolishing the warehouse entirely, thanks to its powerful kinetic impact,” he said.

However, he stressed the Oreshnik missile is not designed for front-line use but to target key industrial facilities, military command posts, and large ammunition depots.

“There is such a military law – the cost of the weapon must match the significance of the target. The missile is expensive, so it is pointless and unwise to strike at strong points at the front,” he said.

Despite the missile’s devastating potential, Litovkin said he believes its use will not alter the West’s stance on the conflict in Ukraine, because it feels safe fighting Russia through Ukraine, using Ukrainian lives.

- US wartime profits

According to him, the war benefits the West economically, as the US has offloaded obsolete weapons onto Ukraine, pushed European countries to do the same, and is now reaping profits by selling replacements.

“Now the US military-industrial complex is working in three shifts in order to replenish those weapons that they sent and provide these weapons to Europe, which is forced to buy these weapons from the US, because they have empty arsenals, take loans from American banks, pay interest on these loans,” he said.

Bolstering his argument, Litovkin cited a longtime US senator saying that, for the first time, America is profiting from war without losing its own soldiers.

"It is no coincidence that American Senator Lindsey Graham said that for the first time the US is waging a war where not a single American soldier is dying, but the American military-industrial complex is thriving, while Ukrainians pay the ultimate price. This is a bloody business,” he concluded.

On Tuesday, Ukraine attacked Russia's Bryansk region with six US-made ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles, and on Thursday struck inside Russia with British Storm Shadow and US HIMARS.

In the Kursk region, the attack targeted a Russian command post of the North group of forces and resulted in casualties, both fatalities and injuries, among the perimeter security units and servicing staff.