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Dnipro strike and the Oreshnik missile claim
Summary
A retrospective on 21 November 2024, when Russia struck Dnipro with what its president described as a new intermediate-range ballistic missile.
What did Russia fire at Dnipro on 21 November 2024? The answer, as Russian President Vladimir Putin stated it, was a new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).
That statement confirmed earlier reports from the United States and other western officials, who had said Russia used an IRBM. Initial reports had misidentified the projectile as an RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
The days leading up to the strike
The strike came after a series of developments in the preceding days. On 19 November 2024, Putin signed a decree allowing Russia to use nuclear weapons in response to conventional attacks by a non-nuclear state that is supported by a nuclear power.
On the same date, the United Kingdom and France were reported to be preparing new military packages containing long-range missiles for Ukraine. This followed President Joe Biden's decision to allow deep strikes into Russian territory using American weapons.
Also on 19 November 2024, Biden approved sending non-persistent anti-personnel mines to Ukraine. Ukraine committed not to use them in areas with civilians.
Dissent in Belarus
The day before the strike, 20 November 2024, around 1,671 anti-war protesters in Belarus were arrested for showing solidarity with Ukraine. The arrests were part of a crackdown on opposition under President Alexander Lukashenko.
What the day showed
By 21 November 2024, the identification of the missile had moved from conflicting early reports to a statement by Putin himself, backed by western officials' account that an IRBM had been used. The strike on Dnipro was a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure, and it landed amid the nuclear-doctrine decree and the preparations for new long-range missile supplies from London and Paris.
