Key Points and Summary – Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and military intelligence (HUR) pulled off a covert strike deep inside Russia, destroying a newly touted “Oreshnik” ballistic missile at the Kapustin Yar test range.
-Kept secret for over a year, the operation targeted a system Moscow claims is a hypersonic, INF-range IRBM—likely an upgraded RS-26 Rubezh with a new label.
-Kyiv says Russia tested Oreshnik three times and may have up to six launches left, with potential basing in Belarus.
-The missile’s depressed trajectory and maneuvering re-entry complicate interception by Patriot, SAMP/T, and NASAMS, but its loss at the pad undercuts the program’s aura and timelines.
Ukraine Special Ops Strike Deep Inside Russia, Destroyed New Ballistic Missile
WARSAW, POLAND – On October 31, the Ukraine Security Service (SBU) and its armed forces counterpart, the Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR), announced they had destroyed one of Russia’s top-secret “Oreshnik” strategic ballistic missiles.
The two services conducted a joint operation deep inside Russia at the Kapustin Yar test range.
The testing facility is a military training area and rocket launch complex located in the Astrakhan Oblast, approximately 100 km east of Volgograd.
It was established by the Soviet Union on May 13, 1946, and is owned and operated by the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). Until this operation, the Russian armed forces likely considered this facility to be too far from the front lines and too well-protected to be vulnerable to such a covert operation.
Few details about this weapon have been revealed since Putin announced its existence.
Most experts on Russian ballistic missile systems believe that the Oreshnik is not a new design, but rather an upgraded version of Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh, which was first developed in 2011.
German soldiers assigned to Surface Air and Missile Defense Wing 1 fire the Patriot weapons system at the NATO Missile Firing Installation (NAMFI) during Artemis Strike Nov. 7 in Chania, Greece. Artemis Strike is a German-led multinational air defense exercise. German soldiers Over 200 U.S. soldiers and approximately 650 German airmen will be participating in the realistic training within a combined construct, exercise the rigors associated with force projection and educate operators on their air missile defense systems. (Photo By Officer Candidate Sebastian Apel, Air Defence Missile Group 24)
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the missile in November 2024.
He stated at the time that the Oreshnik, a name which means “hazel” in English, is a brand-new innovation in missile design that Western air and missile defense systems would be incapable of intercepting.
Not Really Anything New
However, this appears to be another of Putin’s claims about a new wonder weapon, which loses some of its luster under scrutiny.
“I’d be extremely shocked if this missile system had more than 10 percent new parts,” said Fabian Hoffmann, a defense expert and doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo, who spoke to the Kyiv Independent newspaper in 2024 when Putin made the initial announcement.
“I think basically they just took apart the RS-26 or just cannibalized it and then put together this new missile with a couple of upgrades, and a new paint job.”
The RS-26 Hoffman refers to is the RS-26 Rubezh mentioned above, the details of which are well known.
“We believe the Russians are preparing to deploy the Oreshnik in Belarus, and we know its estimated range is about 5,000 kilometers,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Europeans should pay close attention to these risks.”
The Oreshnik missile was first used against Ukraine in November 2024 and is categorized as an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that can achieve hypersonic speed.
It reportedly has a range in excess of 3,000 kilometers and can be fitted with either conventional or nuclear warheads, and is capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 10–11.
What We Did Summer Before Last
Last Friday, the SBU chief, Vasyl Malyuk, revealed that this missile system was destroyed during this special operation while speaking with journalists alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
He also revealed that the destruction caused by this operation had been kept secret for more than a year.
The details were deliberately kept secret to protect intelligence sources, the SBU chief said. “If I’m not mistaken, it happened the summer before last,” Malyuk said.
Malyuk described this operation as “a 100% successful strike,” noting that at the time of the operation, even the name of the new Russian system had not yet been disclosed. “This was a successful mission. Enough time has passed, and we can finally talk about it,” Malyuk said.
He further stated that the operation’s outcome was known only to a few presidents, including Zelenskiy. He explained that Russia had previously conducted three test launches of the “Oreshnik” before the system was hit.
“They had three shots, and they used one,” Zelenskiy said, adding that Ukrainian intelligence now believes Moscow still can carry out up to six more launches.
The missile’s flight profile features a depressed trajectory and possesses an unpredictable re-entry maneuver capability, complicating its interception by NATO air defense systems that have been provided to Ukraine.
Specifically, these are the American Patriot PAC-3, France’s SAMP/T, or the joint US-Norwegian NASAMS.
The PAC-3 MSE is a highly sought-after air defense munition due to its advanced capabilities and versatility. As a next-generation interceptor, it offers improved range, speed, and maneuverability, making it an effective counter to a wide range of threats, including tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and aircraft. (Official U.S. Army photo)
Russian officials claim that this missile entered serial production in 2025.
The RS-26 Rubezh, on which Oreshnik is based, has been under development for more than seven years. It was previously criticized in the West as a violation of the since-discarded Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty negotiated in the 1980s.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of the Asia Research Centre at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two consecutive awards for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
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Jim
November 4, 2025 at 10:20 am
Ukraine & Russia were part of the Soviet Union and were highly mixed with many Russians and Ukrainians moving freely between the two Soviets for various opportunities and reasons.
What this story touts is the espionage and sabotage which Kiev is able to carry out on Russian soil.
But what hasn’t been reported on by western media is the high degree of espionage Russia engages in versus Ukraine.
Russia has launched large numbers of ballistic missiles into Ukraine, seemingly each one launched at a specific target. That might also be true of the multiple Geran-2 drones Russia has launched as well.
How does Russia know what and where all these targets are and then able to lock into the target’s coordinates into targeting software systems of these missiles.
Possibly, some are identified by satellite photo reconnaissance operations, but the vast majority are identified by persons on the ground in Ukraine willing to help Russia in their war effort by identifying military and manufacturing entities and relaying the information to Russian handlers.
In other words, Ukraine is infiltrated by those willing to help Russia… let’s put it plain, spies willing to engage in espionage for Russia.
So, while this story highlights an episode of successful sabotage… everyday, there are multiple examples of espionage leading to successful missile & drone strikes across Ukraine.
This situation demonstrates another facet of this conflict: it’s a civil war between two closely related peoples joined by history and fate.
Locked in a brutal conflict consistent with prior civil wars… often, the most brutal of all wars.
Swamplaw Yankee
November 5, 2025 at 6:33 pm
Wow: The pro-Kremlin ruuzkie-shill scam surfaces again.
The tens of millions of Ukrainians butchered by Kremlin based ruuzzkie etnics over the last 1000 years all just vanish: poof, not a care in the NAZI-like FSB agit prop tout world.
Estonia is now making ruuzzkie ethnics legally unable to purchase land in Estonia, etc. What do Estonians understand about ruuzzkie ethnics legally resident in Estonia that a NAZI-like FSB ruuzzkie shill would avoid in their agit prop?
Prior Genocide that lasts 1000 years is not your Holocaust or Hecatomb level of Genocide. The US Yankee has to comprehend that generations of Mucovoy ruuzzkies bred their children to take Genocide and slavery as a norm, an ethnic reality common on every Mucovy street corner.
Girding the children for bi-annual raids into Ukraine to butcher parents, assemble “Lolita” packages to trade for big gold needed for the GNP of the various tsars was a annual reality. The muslim slave trader in Crimea had critical acceptance standards for little Ukrainian boys and girls. No big Ottoman gold was paid for children whose parents had dis-figured their children. Yes, spies were a reality for the Kremlin ruuzzkies centuries back. Many villages did not have the right age of boys for castration and/or facial perfect girl that the OTTOMAN slavers paid the ruuzzkie butchers big gold for.
The border: yeah, let’s look at 1939. Instead of the ruuzzkie one, lets look at the independent nation of Carpatho-Ukraine. About 600,000 population of which nearly all were Ukrainian. The Hitler bud, Horthy of Hungary attacked this independent Ukrainian entity in March 16, 1939. It had over 300% more Jewish inhabitants that Hungarians. After a battle that lasted longer than the one for POLAND in 39, Hungary won. The Horthy butchers went into action with about 27 -28,000 Ukrainians killed in ethnic cleansing. 60,000 to 100, 000 Ukrainians fled from Hungarians over the border into Kremlin ruuzzkie control to earn themselves a train ride to Stalin’s fav resort, the GULAG.
Today, the US Yankee may wonder why Orban of 2025 seems to get ants in his pants when ever FREE Ukrainian real estate is code mentioned by the Orange Scarecrow elite. Orban knows that his Hungarian Horthy of 1939 cut down + shot Karpathian Citizen Ukrainians like cordwood, to be piled by the side of any handy road. Orban of 2026 wants FREE Ukrainian real estate as well. in reality, most US citizens have zero recall of the FIRST nation to fall in March 16-22 of 1939 in what would become known as WW2.
Now, the Yankee favourite president Truman. So, when WW 2 ended, what did Truman do about this vanquished Ukrainian nation? Truman’s White House and/or the Democrats were very concerned to restore it like the nearby tiny Baltic nations?
No way. Truman listened to the vast numbers of NAZI-like KGB agents on the FDR payrolls in the many US federal departments. Huge numbers were inserted by the POTUS FDR and POTUS Truman covered them all up till Stalin died. This is, one recalls, the reds were on the US tax dollar payroll after the WW2 ended on May 10, 1045.
Nope, Truman swallowed Stalin’s advice from Stalin’s well placed commie members, agents, etc., and ensured that inside his Truman White House staff, zero, that is no talk was tolerated from 1945 on, inside any USA division, about an independent Karpathian Ukrainian people/ country.
Next, Kooommrade Dzzzhhhim will be educating the inner beltway aquarium why the Anglo and Franco-Canadians are so closely related and joined by history, geography and fate to the Yankee. Actually, these Canadians are as closely related to Kremlin ruuzzkie Muscovy. Line the two groups up in 2026 and Canadians look as if they just came out of any Moscow area supermarket. Who gets the Xi regime FREE missile set-ups first?
Anything to stop the US voter from recognizing the 2025 Orange Scarecrow open scam to very swiftly, illegally, self-donate, swap, vast Ukrainian lands as a POTUS geopolitical gift to his Kremlim ruuzzkie Putin, vassal of the PRC CCP Xi regime. Now, ask yourself the deeper question: Why? Why is this Orange Scarecrow POTUS geopolitical scam so swiftly pushed? -30-