On January 15, French President Emmanuel Macron called on European allies to urgently act to develop new long-range weapons, in the context that this region is in the attack range of the Russian Oreshnik hypersonic missile.
We are within the range of these attacks" - Mr. Macron warned soldiers in a speech at the Istres-Le Tube airbase, while emphasizing France's desire to possess similar capabilities through an initiative called the European Long-range Assault Method (ELSA).
The initiative we launched, called ELSA, is completely grounded as we have just witnessed the second launch of a very long-range missile, called Oreshnik," Mr. Macron added.
The French leader called on Europe to take advantage of available technologies to "get new weapons that can change the situation in the short term" in order to maintain prestige.
“Along with our German and British partners, we need to make strong progress in long-range attack capability, in order to increase reliability and support nuclear deterrence” - Mr. Macron declared.
The ELSA program was initiated by France, Germany and Poland in 2024, followed by Sweden, Italy, England and the Netherlands participating. This initiative aims to take advantage of the general cost and industrial capacity of Europe to develop long-range conventional attack capabilities, although there is currently no specific plan.
The Russian military last week used the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile system to attack an aircraft factory in Lviv (Ukraine), where F-16 and MiG-29 fighters are being maintained, near the Polish border.
Previously, Russia first launched Oreshnik into an arms factory in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024, describing it as a successful "combat test". After that, Russia began mass production and deployed this system in Belarus, a close ally, at the end of 2025.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Oreshnik currently has no rivals in the world, comparing the power of this system to "a falling meteorite". According to him, Oreshnik carries dozens of self-guided warheads, capable of attacking multiple targets while moving at a speed 10 times the speed of sound.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the second Oreshnik attack was carried out in response to a "terrorist plot by the Kiev government" targeting the Russian presidential palace in the Novgorod region.
Images collected by international media in Lviv show many objects falling continuously from the air, but Kiev has not confirmed the extent of the damage.
