Dmitriev reminded Kallas that air defenses don’t work against “Oreshnik”

Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president’s special representative and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), wrote on X that there are no air-defense systems capable of intercepting the “Oreshnik” missile—addressing EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

He was commenting on her statements that Ukraine needs to be supplied with air-defense systems after a Russian strike carried out with an “Oreshnik.”

“Kaja [Kallas] isn’t particularly intelligent or knowledgeable, but even she should understand that there is no air defense against the hypersonic ‘Oreshnik’ missile, which reaches a speed of 10 Mach,” he wrote.

On the morning of January 9, Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that Russian forces struck targets in Lviv region using an “Oreshnik.” According to the ministry, this was in response to an attempted attack on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Novgorod region on the night of December 29, 2025.

As war correspondent Aleksandr Kots specified, the targets of the strike may have been a deposit near Stryi and the Bilche-Volytsko-Uherske underground gas storage facility. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the international community—above all the United States—to respond to the strike. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also said that Kyiv is urgently convening a UN Security Council meeting.