Putin testing 'son' of his deadliest missile in new WW3 threat to West

 Russia is testing a new hypersonic nuclear-capable ballistic missile that will be “more powerful” than its already feared Oreshnik, according to a new report. Vladimir Putin has twice used the conventional version of the system in Ukraine.

But military expert Viktor Baranets, a retired colonel, claimed the dictator is bent on obtaining a “Son of Oreshnik” to threaten the West and Ukraine. Engineers are working on a missile with greater warhead yield, new fuel systems and “fundamentally different” control mechanisms, he told Russian outlet Abzats.

He said: "We are indeed developing and testing a missile that will be more powerful than the Oreshnik. It will have improved warhead yield parameters."

He suggested the upgraded missile could carry eight kinetic warheads instead of six, capable of penetrating targets to depths of up to 100ft.

"While the Oreshniks already perform excellently, they are now aiming to perfect it to the point where target deviation will be zero," said Baranets, military analyst for Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

The “unstoppable” Oreshnik system — introduced in late 2024 with a strike on Dnipro — is described by Russian sources as a mobile, medium-range ballistic missile system with multiple independently targetable warheads.

Moscow has previously claimed there are no effective countermeasures against Oreshnik-type missiles — a statement Western analysts have treated cautiously.

In January 2026, Putin unleashed 8,000 mph Oreshnik in a strike on the outskirts of Ukrainian city Lviv, just 40 miles from NATO and EU territory in Poland.

Putin claims targets are incinerated by conventional Oreshnik missiles unleashing a temperature of 4,000C, almost as hot as the surface of the sun. The missile system is now deployed in Belarus, according to officials in Moscow and Minsk.

From Belarus, it could supposedly hit London in just eight minutes. There has been no official confirmation from Russia ’s Defence Ministry about the development of a new system beyond Oreshnik.