Russia’s $50 Million Oreshnik Strike Damages Few Garages in 3rd Ukraine Use

4 articles · Updated · Kyiv Independent · May 28

Bila Tserkva’s May 24 strike destroyed only a handful of storage units, with most of the industrial site left intact despite Russia using an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile.
Experts say the Mach 10-11 missile has been fired in Ukraine with dummy submunitions, leaving it to rely on kinetic impact alone because Russia lacks an effective conventional warhead for the system.
Fabian Hoffmann said Oreshnik’s low accuracy and weak lethality make it less useful than cheaper conventional missiles such as the roughly $1.4 million Iskander-M, which would likely have caused more damage.
The launch was Oreshnik’s third known use against Ukraine after Dnipro in November 2024 and western Ukraine in January 2026, reinforcing assessments that its main value is propaganda and nuclear signaling.
That signaling has also weakened: analysts say each use has looked less intimidating, and one more Oreshnik reportedly crashed near Russian positions on May 24 even as Moscow and Minsk keep preparing future deployments in Belarus.

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