Moscow should employ its new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile system in response to a major Ukrainian drone attack targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure inside Russia, a top MP has stated.
A total of 337 Ukrainian UAVs were shot down above Russian territory overnight, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Tuesday morning. Russian media described it as the largest drone raid by Kiev since the escalation between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022. In Moscow Region, three civilians were killed and more than a dozen wounded as a result of the attack, according to Governor Andrey Vorobyev.
When asked by journalists on Tuesday if Russia should strike Ukrainian targets with the Oreshnik in retaliation, the head of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee chairman Andrey Kartapolov replied that “the decision is up to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief [Russian President Vladimir Putin].”
“But I think it would be appropriate [to launch the Oreshnik], and it would be even better if it is more than one missile,” added the MP, who is a former deputy defense minister and holds the rank of colonel-general.
The Oreshnik missile, which was developed in secrecy, made its battlefield debut in November 2024 when it struck Ukraine’s Yuzhmash military industrial facility in the city of Dnepr. According to Moscow, the state-of-the-art system was deployed in response to Kiev’s attacks deep inside Russia with Western-supplied long-range weapons.
Putin said that the Oreshnik’s multiple warheads travel at ten times the speed of sound and cannot be intercepted by any existing air defense. Following the successful strike, Russia announced the launch of serial production of Oreshnik missiles.
In a separate interview with RIA Novosti, Kartapolov insisted that the Ukrainian drone raid was a PR stunt by Kiev that “did not pursue any military goals.”
“This is purely a propaganda move aimed at showing the public, primarily the Americans, that they can still do something. But as usual, they can do nothing but wage war on the elderly, children, women and civilians,” he said.
The MP suggested that the UAV attack on Russia could be linked to the negotiations between US and Ukrainian delegations taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the raid came on the day when the head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Feridun Sinirlioglu, was visiting Moscow.
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