"Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear his intention to place intermediate-range Oreshnik missiles, with an estimated range of up to 3,400 miles (5,500 km), in Belarus, but the exact location has not been previously reported.

Deployment of the Oreshnik would underscore the Kremlin's growing reliance on the threat of nuclear weapons as it seeks to deter NATO members from supplying Kyiv with weapons that can strike deep inside Russia, some experts said."

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Obligatory:

"Moscow tested a conventionally armed Oreshnik " Russian for Hazel tree - against a target in Ukraine in November 2024. Putin boasts that it's impossible to intercept because of velocities reportedly exceeding Mach 10.

Putin plans to deploy the weapon "in Belarus to extend its range further into Europe," said John Foreman, an expert with the Chatham House who served as a British defense attache in Moscow and Kyiv.

Foreman said he also sees such a move as a reaction to the planned stationing in Germany next year by the U.S. of conventional missiles that include the intermediate-range hypersonic Dark Eagle.

The Oreshnik's deployment would come with only weeks left before the expiration of 2010 New START pact, the last U.S.-Russia treaty limiting deployments of strategic nuclear weapons by the world's biggest nuclear powers."

Sounds like it has more to do with velocity than range?

Quicker the better is what Mrs BJ always says!