Russia was not bound by a treaty or a standing obligation to inform the United States before launching a new ballistic missile, yet the event was disclosed through an automatic signaling channel. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, explained this when answering a question from a journalist. The Russian Armed Forces announced a strike against a facility in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, carried out with an Oreshnik ballistic missile.
This missile is not intercontinental, qualifying it as a medium range weapon. Accordingly, there is no formal duty to notify the United States about this launch. Nevertheless, the Russian National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center operates with automatic systems and maintains a direct line with the same signaling network used by the United States. In automatic mode, a warning is issued roughly thirty minutes before lift-off because short and medium range missiles do not behave like intercontinental weapons, yet they follow a ballistic trajectory, so the center continues to operate through automated procedures.
On a November 21 briefing, Vladimir Putin stated that Russia had attacked the Yuzhmash facility in the Dnipro region with its latest Oreshnik system, described as a modern medium range weapon. He claimed that even the most advanced Western air defenses would not withstand such an attack.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted on the same day that Russia did not issue a warning to the United States about the Oreshnik strike because there was no obligation to do so. A subsequent clarification indicated that the United States received an automatic notification about half an hour before the launch.
Further details about the Oreshnik launch have appeared in ongoing coverage from the same news outlet, which has reported on the sequence of official statements and the broader implications of the event.
Earlier reports from defense officials indicated that warning procedures related to the Oreshnik deployment were acknowledged by the relevant authorities.