US warns Russia may be ready to use new lethal missile against Ukraine again in 'coming days'

U.S. intelligence assesses that Russia may use its new medium-range ballistic missile against Ukraine again "in the coming days." A U.S. official stated that this experimental missile, named "Oleshnik," is seen more as a scare tactic by U.S. officials rather than a decisive factor on the Ukrainian battlefield.

This threat comes as both Russia and Ukraine are striving to gain a battlefield advantage in the nearly three-year-long war. Simultaneously, President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the war, and the U.S. has just pledged nearly $1 billion in new security assistance to Ukraine. Other Western allies suggest that negotiations to end the war could begin this winter.

According to the official, Russia possesses only a small number of "Oleshnik" missiles, and their warheads are smaller than those of other missiles Russia frequently launches at Ukraine. Russia first used this weapon on November 21, launching a missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Surveillance footage showed a huge fireball streaking across the night sky and hitting the ground at an astonishing speed.

Within hours of the attack on military facilities, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare appearance on state television, showing off the new hypersonic missile. He warned the West that the next use could target Ukraine's NATO allies that allow Kyiv to use their long-range missiles to strike inside Russia. This attack occurred two days after Putin signed a revised version of Russia's nuclear doctrine, lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. The doctrine allows Moscow to potentially respond with nuclear weapons to any conventional attack on Russia by a country supported by a nuclear power.

The attack also came shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to ease restrictions on Ukraine using U.S.-made long-range weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory, and a day after the U.S. said it would provide Ukraine with anti-personnel mines to help slow the Russian advance on the battlefield. "We believe we have the right to use our weapons against the military facilities of countries that allow their weapons to be used to attack our facilities," Putin stated at the time.

The Pentagon has stated that the "Oleshnik" is an experimental medium-range ballistic missile based on Russia's RS-26 "Rubezh" intercontinental ballistic missile. The attack marked the first time this weapon has been used in combat. Medium-range missiles have a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. This type of weapon was banned under a Soviet-era treaty that was abandoned by Washington and Moscow in 2019.

As both Russia and Ukraine vie for an upper hand in upcoming negotiations, the fighting in the protracted war has escalated. Trump's inauguration next month has also raised questions about how much support the U.S. will continue to provide to Kyiv. Trump recently insisted that Russia and Ukraine should reach a ceasefire immediately and suggested that Ukraine might have to prepare to accept less U.S. military aid.

"Zelensky and Ukraine want to make a deal and stop the madness," Trump wrote on social media over the weekend, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.