As Russia unleashed its new hypersonic ballistic missile on Lviv, the ground across the western Ukrainian city began to vibrate.
It was only the second time Moscow used its Oreshnik missile during the nearly four-year conflict, a weapon Russian President Vladimir Putin says travels "like a meteorite" and is impossible to intercept.
"I heard a loud, shocking explosion," Lviv resident Kristofer Chokhovich told the Associated Press.
"It makes me concerned about if we have the tools to fight against the Russians."
The Oreshnik is a nuclear-capable weapon, but so far it has been used with non-explosive "dummy warheads", according to Ukrainian sources.
Mr Putin boasts that several of the missiles used in a conventional strike could be just as devastating as a nuclear attack.
The Oreshnik struck close to Ukraine's border with Poland — a NATO country — prompting the UN Security Council to call an emergency meeting.
Defence analysts described the missile as Russia's new "weapon of intimidation" that was being used to deliver a message to Ukraine's allies at 13,000 kilometres an hour.
What is the Oreshnik?
Both Ukraine and Russia confirmed the use of the Oreshnik in an overnight attack on Lviv on January 8-9.
It was launched as part of a larger drone and missile strike, which also targeted the capital Kyiv and killed at least four people.
Russia's defence ministry said the target of the Oreshnik was an aircraft repair plant.
[map]During a subsequent emergency meeting of the Security Council, US Deputy UN Ambassador Tammy Bruce decried Russia's use of the missile, calling it a "dangerous and inexplicable escalation".
The new year has brought "no peace", UN Undersecretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said.
Instead, she said, Russia's intensifying attacks were causing "horrific" levels of destruction and suffering.
The Oreshnik is an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that flies through the stratosphere before travelling on a sharp trajectory down to earth.
It was named after the Russian word for "hazel tree" due to its appearance when it drops multiple warheads in streaks of light.
The Oreshnik moves faster than most modern missiles. Russia claims it reaches speeds of up to mach 10, about 10 times the speed of sound.
The Ukrainian military reported the missile travelled at a speed of 13,000km/h when used in the Lviv attack.
Malcolm Davis, senior analyst in defence capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), said the Oreshnik had several features that together made it "virtually impossible to intercept" with most Western air defence systems.
In addition to its high speeds, it can carry multiple warheads capable of simultaneously striking different targets.
"Most of the missiles the Russians have used so far have been single-warhead missiles," Dr Davis told the ABC.
It was also believed to have a range of about 5,500 kilometres.
"So that would cover all of NATO," Dr Davis said.
"If Putin wanted to escalate the war, he could use it … and there'd be very little that the Americans or NATO could do about it."
Missile defence systems such as the US Patriot, which has been deployed to Ukraine, were not designed to counter missiles such as the Oreshnik.
Sergei Karakayev, the commander of Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces — which controls its nuclear arsenal and intercontinental ballistic missile programme — has said that Oreshnik could hit targets "throughout Europe".
Last month, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, a key Putin ally, said the Oreshnik had been deployed in his country, which borders NATO's eastern flank.
A message to Europe
Russia first used the multiple-warhead Oreshnik on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024, causing minimal damage.
After the 2024 strike, a Pentagon spokesperson called the Oreshnik "an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile" that was "based on Russia's RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile model" (ICBM).
Such weapons were banned under a Soviet-era treaty that Washington and Moscow abandoned in 2019.
The official said Russia had "pre-notified" the US "briefly before the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels".
Ukrainian officials said it appeared that in both instances the Oreshnik was carrying inert payloads.
Dr Davis described inert payloads as "essentially chunks of metal", but said they could still cause damage due to the mass and speed at which they are launched.
Russia's Defence Ministry said the Oreshnik attack was a retaliation for what Moscow claimed was a Ukrainian drone strike on one of Mr Putin's residences last month.
US President Donald Trump and Ukraine rejected the Russian claim.
A string of Kyiv's European allies described the Oreshnik incident as an attempt to intimidate them from supporting Ukraine.
It took place days after a summit at which European countries pledged to offer troops for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, and Washington backed giving security guarantees for Kyiv.
"Russia's reported use of an Oreshnik missile is a clear escalation against Ukraine and meant as a warning to Europe and to the US," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who spoke to the leaders of France and Britain, said: "Threatening gestures are intended to instil fear, but they will not work. We stand with Ukraine."
Oreshnik a sign of a 'fearful' Putin
Dr Davis believes Mr Putin is using Oreshnik to not only send a message to Europe, but also "manipulate" Mr Trump to give him a peace deal on Russia's terms.
"This is a weapon of intimidation … He's rattling nuclear sabres to try and sow fear and doubt into the mind of Trump," he said.
"It's really a question of whether Trump is going to be affected by that."
In response to the latest attack, Mr Trump said Mr Putin "fears the US" but not Europe.
Defence experts say NATO will continue to face "the Oreshnik dilemma", but the missile is unlikely to be used as a weapon of mass destruction.
Retired Australian Army major general and Ukraine war analyst Mick Ryan said it appeared that Mr Putin was trying to reassert himself after "a bad couple of weeks in regard to Russia's position in the world".
There was the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a close ally of Mr Putin, the seizure of a Russian-flagged vessel in the North Atlantic, and fresh demonstrations in Iran, challenging Moscow-allied authorities.
The Oreshnik strike was a "sign of a fearful, worried leader and not one that is confident and anticipating victory," Mr Ryan wrote.
"It is not the first time he has done so as part of Russia's ongoing cognitive war against democracies. It is unlikely to be the last."
ABC/wires
