Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, says Putin

KYIV: Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at the city of Dnipro on Thursday in response to the US and UK allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with advanced Western weapons, in a further escalation of the 33-month-old war.

Russian president Vladimir Putin, in a televised address, said Moscow struck a Ukrainian military facility with a new ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik” (the hazel) and warned that more could follow.

“A regional conflict in Ukraine previously provoked by the West has acquired elements of a global character,” Putin said in an address to the nation carried by state television after 8pm Moscow time.

A US official said that Washington was notified by Russia shortly before its strike, while another said they had briefed Kyiv and other close allies in recent days to prepare for the possible use of such a weapon.

Earlier on Thursday, Kyiv said that Russia had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a weapon designed for long-distance nuclear strikes and never before used in war, though US officials said it was an intermediate range ballistic missile that has a smaller range.

Regardless of its classification, the latest strike highlighted rapidly rising tensions in the past several days.

Ukraine fired US and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week despite warnings by Moscow that it would see such action as a major escalation.

“Today there was a new Russian missile. All the characteristics – speed, altitude – are (of an) intercontinental ballistic (missile). An expert (investigation) is currently underway,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video statement.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry urged the international community to react swiftly to the use of what it said was “the use by Russia of a new type of weaponry.”

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia likely possesses a handful of the “experimental” intermediate-range ballistic missiles used in Thursday’s strike.

Ukraine’s air force said the missile targeted Dnipro in central-eastern Ukraine and was fired from the Russian region of Astrakhan, more than 700km away. It did not specify what kind of warhead the missile had or what type of missile it was. There was no suggestion it was nuclear-armed.

Intermediate-range ballistic missiles have a range of 3,000-5,500km.

“Whether it was an ICBM or an IRBM, the range isn’t the important factor,” said Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at Oslo university who specialises in missile technology and nuclear strategy.

“The fact that it carried a MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle) payload is much more significant for signalling purposes and is the reason Russia opted for it. This payload is exclusively associated with nuclear-capable missiles.”

Russia also fired a Kinzhal hypersonic missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles, six of which were shot down, the Ukrainian air force said.

The attack targeted enterprises and critical infrastructure in Dnipro, the air force said. Dnipro was a missile-making centre in the Soviet era. Ukraine has expanded its military industry during the war, but keeps its whereabouts secret.

The air force did not say what the missile targeted or whether it had caused any damage, but regional governor Serhiy Lysak said the missile attack damaged an industrial enterprise and set off fires in Dnipro. Two people were hurt.

Ukrainska Pravda, a Kyiv-based media outlet, had cited anonymous sources saying the missile was an RS-26 Rubezh, a solid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 5,800km, according to the Arms Control Association.

‘Totally unprecedented’

A group of glowing projectiles could be seen plummeting to the ground from the night sky in a video published by Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian military charity. It said the video was of Dnipro overnight.

The Nato military alliance did not respond to a request for comment. The US European Command said it had nothing on the reported use of an ICBM and referred questions to the US defense department.

Some military experts said the missile launch, if confirmed, could be seen as an act of deterrence by Moscow following Kyiv’s strikes into Russia with Western weapons this week, after restrictions on such strikes were lifted.

Russian war correspondents on Telegram and an official speaking on condition of anonymity said Kyiv fired British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia’s Kursk region bordering Ukraine on Wednesday.

Russia’s defence ministry, in its daily report of events over the previous 24 hours on Thursday, said air defences had shot down two British Storm Shadow cruise missiles but did not say where. The UK had previously let Ukraine use Storm Shadows only within Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine also fired US ATACMS missiles into Russia on Tuesday after US president Joe Biden gave the all-clear to use such missiles in this way, two months before he leaves office and Donald Trump returns to the White House. Putin on Tuesday lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks.

Trump has said he will end the war, without saying how, and has criticised billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine under Biden. The warring sides believe Trump is likely to push for peace talks – not known to have been held since the war’s earliest months – and are trying to attain strong positions before negotiations.

Moscow has said the use of Western weapons to strike Russian territory far from the border would be a major escalation in the conflict. Kyiv says it needs the capability to defend itself by hitting Russian rear bases used to support Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.