Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday in an attack on the town of Dnipro in east-central Ukraine, a first since the start of its invasion in 2022, the Ukrainian air force charged .
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This type of weapon is a vector of Russian nuclear deterrence, and has a range of thousands of kilometers. It can also be equipped with a conventional charge.
Its use, if confirmed, marks a new escalation, while Russia had said it was preparing an “appropriate” response to Ukraine’s use of Western missiles on Russian territory, which Moscow had described as a red line.
“An intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Russian region of Astrakhan” in southwest Russia, the Air Force said in a statement.
“It’s the first time. We have never had this type of missile before,” a source within this army told AFP. It is “obvious” that the missile did not carry a nuclear warhead, she added.
The Kremlin declined to comment on the accusation. “I have nothing to say on this topic,” said Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, when questioned by the media on this subject during a daily briefing.
He also affirmed that Russia would make “maximum efforts” to avoid a nuclear war, after a revision of Russian doctrine which broadens the possibility of using atomic weapons, in full tension between Moscow and the West around of the conflict in Ukraine.
“We emphasized that, following our doctrine, Russia takes a responsible position in order to make maximum efforts not to allow such a conflict,” the spokesperson said.
The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, announced Thursday that it had shot down “two British-made “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles” fired by Ukraine and which were targeting its territory, without specifying the place or time of this interception.
British media announced on Wednesday that Kyiv had used these long-range missiles for the first time after obtaining authorization from London.
Already on Tuesday, Ukraine used for the first time American ATACMS missiles, with a range of 300 km, against a military installation in the Russian region of Bryansk.
Some Western countries supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine but did not authorize their use on Russian territory.
On Wednesday, several Western embassies, including that of the United States, temporarily closed for the day due to the risk of a major Russian attack. The American embassy had warned of a “possible significant air attack” on Ukraine, without giving details.
