US intelligence warns Russia may soon use Oreshnik again - AP

A U.S. intelligence assessment has concluded that Russia may use its lethal new intermediate-range ballistic missile against Ukraine again in “coming days”.

A U.S. official said this on Wednesday, Ukrinform reports, referring to AP.

“According to the official, Russia has only a handful of the Oreshnik missiles and that they carry a smaller warhead than other missiles that Russia has regularly launched at Ukraine,” the report says.

However, no details on possible dates or potential targets have been provided.

Read also: U.S. Embassy warns of increased threats from Russian missiles, drones

The Pentagon said the Oreshnik was an experimental type of intermediate-range ballistic missile, or IRBM, based on Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. Intermediate-range missiles can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers. Such weapons were banned under a Soviet-era treaty that Washington and Moscow abandoned in 2019.

As reported, Russia first used an intermediate-range ballistic missile on November 21. Then the Russians struck the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.