US Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Tammy Bruce described Russia’s use of the Oreshnik missile system as a dangerous escalation. She made the statement during a meeting of the UN Security Council.

According to Bruce, Russia carried out new strikes on Ukraine, including the launch of the Oreshnik ballistic missile, which she said is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. She emphasized that the strike was directed at an area close to the border with Poland and NATO member states and characterized the action as, in her view, another unjustified escalation of the conflict.

On the night of January 9, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation conducted a massive strike in response to what Moscow described as a terrorist attack by the Kiev regime on the residence of the President of the Russian Federation in the Novgorod Oblast on the night of December 29, 2025. The operation involved long-range high-precision weapons based on land and sea platforms, including the mobile ground-based medium-range Oreshnik missile system, as well as strike drones.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the Oreshnik strike on January 9 disabled the Lvov State Aircraft Repair Plant. According to the ministry, production workshops, drone storage facilities, and the plant’s airfield infrastructure were hit.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson that Russia has no intention of attacking NATO countries, stressing that such a scenario makes no sense. Putin noted that Western politicians regularly frighten their populations with claims of a Russian threat in order to divert attention from domestic problems, adding that informed people clearly understand this narrative to be false.

Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure began on October 10, 2022, two days after the attack on the Crimean Bridge, which Russian authorities said was carried out by Ukrainian security services. The strikes have targeted defense industry facilities, military command centers, and communications infrastructure across the country. At the same time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly stated that Russian forces do not strike residential buildings or civilian social infrastructure during combat operations.