Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said on Wednesday that the deployment of Oreshnik will not impact the balance of power in Europe and was “our response” to the West’s “aggressive actions.”
Published: December 28, 2025 7:34 AM IST
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet Trump in Florida today, Sunday. According to American researchers, Russia is now using an older military airbase located in eastern Belarus as a launch site for its new hypersonic ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. This may give Russia increased capacity to reach into Europe with its missile strikes.
The researchers used satellite images to analyze the data that led them to make these findings. Earlier, U.S. intelligence services had reported this same finding, which Russia denied. As a result, many Western officials believe that during Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Belarus provided access to Russian aircraft flying through its airspace.
According to the Reuters report, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear his intention to put intermediate-range missile systems known as Oreshniks in Belarus. But the exact location has not been previously reported. The range of these missiles is believed to be around 3,400 miles (5,500 km).
Several experts indicated that putting the Oreshnik into service only serves to reinforce the Kremlin’s growing reliance on the threat of nuclear weapons as it seeks to deter NATO members from supplying Kyiv with weapons that can strike deep inside Russia, as reported by Reuters.
Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said on Wednesday that the deployment of Oreshnik will not impact the balance of power in Europe and was “our response” to the West’s “aggressive actions.”, according to the state-owned Belta news agency.
According to researchers Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, in California, and Decker Eveleth of the CNA research and analysis organization in Virginia, the satellite imagery utilized for their analysis of the Oreshnik Deployment was provided by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite imagery company. As per the report, Lewis and Ewleth stated that they were 90% certain that Mobile Oreshnik Launchers will be stationed at a former airbase, which is located 307 km east of the Belarus capital of Minsk, and 300 miles (478 km) southwest of Moscow.
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