Russia has launched a massive joint military exercise with Belarus, called "Zapad," or "Zapad" in Portuguese, meaning "To the West."
This large-scale military rehearsal will involve 13,000 Russian and Belarusian soldiers, according to Moscow, but Western analysts believe the actual number of troops is around 30,000.
During the exercises, or military demonstrations, the Kremlin will launch strikes and attempt to prevent counterattacks with nuclear weapons. It has also announced tests of the famous Oreshnik missile, capable of hitting any European target in minutes.
"This exercise is a message, from what they have been saying, that if necessary, they will escalate the conflict to the nuclear level. But we should have been aware of this already, because the risk of a tactical nuclear conflict in Europe exists," warned commentator Major General Agostinho Costa.
The famous Oreshnik missile travels ten times faster than the speed of sound (thus hypersonic) and has a range of 5,000 km. It has explosive warheads (it can be equipped with nuclear or conventional warheads).
Lieutenant General Rafael Martins explains that "this is an extremely powerful missile." A ballistic missile with a range that is "extremely sophisticated, hypersonic, highly maneuverable, and not even the US Patriot defense system can shoot down this type of warhead," explains the CNN Portugal military expert, noting that only the US and Israel would be able, on a lucky day, to intercept all of an Oreshnik's explosive warheads. "They have enormous destructive capacity and can reach anywhere in Europe in minutes," he explains.
The Oreshnik is the seventh Russian superweapon:
Avangard - a hypersonic glide vehicle
9M730 Burevestnik - a nuclear-powered cruise missile
3M22 Zircon - a hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile
Kh-47M2 Kinzhal - an air-launched hypersonic ballistic missile
Poseidon - an unmanned underwater vehicle
RS-28 Sarmat - a super-heavy intercontinental ballistic missile
Oreshnik - a hypersonic ballistic missile
Cannot be intercepted.
"This missile is called an absolute weapon, the weapon that neutralizes all others," adds Major General Agostinho Costa, emphasizing that the Oreshnik, even without a nuclear warhead, has virtually the same destructive potential as enriched uranium bombs due to its speed and the inertia it carries. "It's a hypersonic weapon that enters the atmosphere at 10 or 11 times the speed of sound," he emphasizes.
Source Reuters
In response to the Zapad exercise, Poland sent 40,000 soldiers to the border with Belarus. Link
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