Moscow’s defense ministry said a total of 337 Ukrainian UAVs had shot down Russian territory overnight on Tuesday morning. Russian media have described it as the biggest drone attack by Kiev since the escalation between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022. Three civilians have been killed in the Moscow region, and more than dozens of people have been killed as a result of the attack.
When asked by journalists on Tuesday if Russia should attack Oleshnik and Ukraine’s targets in retaliation, Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Russian Defence Committee, replied, “The decision will be the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (Russian President Vladimir Putin).”
“But I think that’s appropriate (to launch Oreshnik), and if it’s multiple missiles, that’s even better,” added the MP, a former deputy defence minister and who holds the rank of Colonel.
The secretly developed Oleshnik missile made its battlefield debut in November 2024 when it struck Ukraine’s Yuzmash military industrial facility in DNEPR city. According to Moscow, the cutting-edge system was deployed in response to the attacks of Kiev, deep within Russia, western-supported long-range weapons.
Putin said multiple Oleshnik warheads travel at ten times the speed of sound and cannot be intercepted by existing air defenses. After the successful strike, Russia announced the start of serial production of the Oreshnik missile.
In another interview with Ria Novosti, Kartapolov claimed that the Ukrainian drone raid was a PR stunt by Kiev, who said that “did not pursue military targets.”
“This is purely a publicity move aimed at showing the public that they can still do something, but as always, they can’t do anything other than wage wars with the elderly, children, women and civilians,” he said.
Parliamentarians suggested that the UAV attack on Russia could be linked to negotiations between the US and Ukrainian delegation taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Earlier that day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakhalova noted that the attack came on the day Feridun Sinrioglu, head of the European Security Cooperation Agency (OSCE), was visiting Moscow.
MNA