The Frontline with Jerome Starkey
Oct 15, 2026 · 13 min · 10 segments
Putin has launched at least one nuclear capable Oreshnik missile at Ukraine as GUR drones smashed Putin’s frigates in port. It comes as Ukraine hit a refinery in Volgograd and Russian logistics on the…
So we keep hearing about these Oreshnik, um, medium-range ballistic missiles, and we hear them described as hypersonic missiles as well.
Medium-range is defined, um, uh, in part of the, um, counter-proliferation treaties.
A medium-range ballistic missile is one with a range of up to 5,500 kilometers.
Why does it c- why is it called a medium-range ballistic missile? Because it's got, uh, the capability of carrying nuclear warheads.
How do you know whether it's carrying conventional warheads or nuclear warheads? You only know whenever it goes bang, and that's the worrying thing.
Once it gets to the top of its apogee, it comes down in a ballistic path, uh, very fast indeed, going in a hy- at hypersonic speeds.
Um, it's very difficult to intercept, um, and that is why, uh, it has a devastating effect on the ground.
Whereas a hypersonic missile tends to be the phrase that's used for a cruise-type missile that flies like an aircraft, but flies significantly faster than the speed of sound.
Three, four, five, six times the speed of sound, in the same way that a ballistic missile does as it's falling back to Earth.
Um, one's going horizontally and then dives into the target, the other goes up and comes down.
The only thing the Ukrainians have got to be able to deal with that particular threat is the, uh, US-supplied Patriot missile.
But even then, they're not as successful against, uh, ballistic missiles as they are against hypersonic missiles.
So we keep hearing about these Oreshnik, um, medium-range ballistic missiles, and we hear them described as hypersonic missiles as well.
Medium-range is defined, um, uh, in part of the, um, counter-proliferation treaties.
A medium-range ballistic missile is one with a range of up to 5,500 kilometers.
Why does it c- why is it called a medium-range ballistic missile? Because it's got, uh, the capability of carrying nuclear warheads.
How do you know whether it's carrying conventional warheads or nuclear warheads? You only know whenever it goes bang, and that's the worrying thing.
Once it gets to the top of its apogee, it comes down in a ballistic path, uh, very fast indeed, going in a hy- at hypersonic speeds.
Um, it's very difficult to intercept, um, and that is why, uh, it has a devastating effect on the ground.
Whereas a hypersonic missile tends to be the phrase that's used for a cruise-type missile that flies like an aircraft, but flies significantly faster than the speed of sound.
Three, four, five, six times the speed of sound, in the same way that a ballistic missile does as it's falling back to Earth.
Um, one's going horizontally and then dives into the target, the other goes up and comes down.
The only thing the Ukrainians have got to be able to deal with that particular threat is the, uh, US-supplied Patriot missile.
But even then, they're not as successful against, uh, ballistic missiles as they are against hypersonic missiles.
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