'Oreshnik' Strike On Lviv: Kremlin's Goal Revealed
- 9.01.2026, 13:46
The location for the attack was not chosen at random.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is trying to intimidate NATO countries by striking with a "Oreshnik" missile near Poland's borders.
Said the head of the Air Force Command's communication department, Yuri Ignat, on the air of the Air Force Command telethon. "We don't know what Putin is calling 'hazel' there. Yes, we are talking about a medium-range ballistic missile. This is not the first time Putin has scared the West with this weapon," he noted.
Ignat recalled that earlier the Russians struck the city of Dnipro with such a missile, and today - Lviv.
"Thus the enemy makes a powerful and media theme out of this, because it is necessary to intimidate the West that we, say, hit far away, even under the borders of NATO countries, in this case close to Poland. The enemy has chosen the Lviv region to carry out such attacking actions in order to influence our partners," - emphasized the military.
He said that the enemy is also trying to provoke panic among Ukrainians, striking on the eve of frost. "They hit critical infrastructure facilities in almost all regions," he said.
Ignat said the Russians did not use strategic aviation today. "There were only ground-based complexes, Iskander-M ballistic missiles or S-400 complexes that can hit on a ballistic trajectory," he added.
He said the enemy used a total of 36 missiles: 13 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles, 22 Kalibr cruise missiles; 1 medium-range ballistic missile.
He added that the Ukrainian capital was attacked by drones and missiles from different sides at the same time - a combined massive attack on the Kiev region.
"It is clear that this creates problems for us. It is extremely difficult to shoot down such a number at the same time with a high result, so 8 out of 13 ballistic missiles were shot down. This is also a high interception rate. Unfortunately, with the Kalibras, the figure is lower - 10 out of 22, which is almost half. The main problem today is the shortage of anti-aircraft missiles to SAMs," Ignat added.
He noted that aviation in this situation cannot work where ground-based air defense works.