Russian missile fails to reach Kyiv, erupts on home soil
The weekly magazine Forbes reports that on Thursday morning, the Russians launched another Oreshnik missile. The missile was intended to hit Kyiv, but it did not reach its target. It likely exploded in Russia, although this information has not been confirmed.
Forbes, quoting Ukrainian war correspondent Kyrylo Sazonov, states that on Thursday morning, the Russians launched an "Oreshnik" missile towards Ukraine for the second time. Air raid sirens were activated, prompting people to seek shelter. This time, the "Oreshnik" was expected to strike Kyiv.
Around 5 AM Eastern Time, the alert was lifted. No strike occurred.
According to Ukrainian war correspondent Kyrylo Sazonov, the Oreshnik "did not fly far." It reportedly malfunctioned and exploded on Russian territory.
Putin had earlier threatened to attack Kyiv
Forbes notes that while this information has not been verified, it remains highly probable. A week after the first "Oreshnik" attack, Putin threatened another attack and explicitly warned that this time he would target "decision-making centres" in Kyiv.
"But the threat was only as real as the Oreshnik is reliable," reports Forbes.
Complicated and inaccurate, the Oreshnik is an expensive way to cause limited destruction, said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the Nonproliferation Program in East Asia at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, to the Reuters agency. In this sense, it is a terrorist weapon — a device meant to instill fear in a larger number of people than it actually harms.
"There is no information that the missile crashed in Russia"
The Ukrainian service 24tv.ua notes that on the morning of February 6, an alarm was indeed issued across Ukraine due to the threat of a ballistic missile launch from the Kapustnyj Yar testing ground. However, the attack did not materialize.
Monitor Channel, which tracks the movement of Russian planes, drones, and missiles, has not confirmed the launch of the "Oreshnik." It also stated that there is no information about the missile having crashed in Russia.
