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Ukraine war latest: Western official denies claim Russia fired intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine | World News

According to Kyiv, Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at Ukraine this morning.

The Associated Press says this would be the first time an ICBM has been used in this war.

But what are they?

ICBMs are ballistic missiles capable of travelling more than 5,500km (3,418 miles).

They’re primarily designed for the delivery of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear warheads can be fitted onto the missile, as can conventional warheads, chemical, and biological weapons.

The US, UK, Israel, Russia, China, , India and North Korea are the only countries known to have operational ICBMs.

They differ from cruise missiles because they are powered by rockets initially, whereas cruise missiles use jet engines.

RS-26 Rubezh

Early reports coming out of Ukraine suggest that the weapon used this morning was the RS-26 Rubezh ICBM.

It’s not been confirmed independently that this was the weapon used.

Like other ICBMs, it’s primarily designed to carry a nuclear warhead to a target – but there are no suggestions that nuclear weapons were used Dnipro this morning – and we’re still yet to have it confirmed that an ICBM was used at all.

The RS-26 Rubezh was successfully tested at a range of 5,800km (3,604 miles) in 2012, although there are some suggestions it can run as far as 6,000km (3,728 miles).

It weighs between 40-50 tons and is fired from a ground-based launcher.

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