Russia launches a new ballistic missile in Ukraine, a warning to the West – National
The Kremlin fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile into Ukraine on Thursday following Kyiv’s use this week of US and British missiles capable of penetrating deep into Russia, President Vladimir Putin said.
In a televised address to the country, the Russian president warned that US air defense systems will not be able to stop the new missile, which he said flies at ten times the speed of sound and which he called Oreshnik – Russian for hazelnut tree. He also said it could be used to attack any Ukrainian coalition whose missiles are being used to attack Russia.
“We believe we have the right to use our weapons against the military facilities of countries that allow the use of weapons against our facilities,” Putin said in his first remarks since President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light this month to use the US ATACMS. missiles that will attack limited areas inside Russia.
Pentagon Deputy Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that the Russian missile was a new, experimental type of missile based on the RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
“This was a new type of lethal force that was used on the battlefield, so that was a concern,” Singh said, noting that the missile could carry conventional or nuclear weapons. The US was informed before the launch of nuclear risk mitigation measures, he said.
The attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro was a result of Kyiv’s use of American and British missiles that struck on Tuesday and Wednesday in southern Russia, Putin said. Those strikes caused a fire at an ammunition depot in Russia’s Bryansk region and killed and wounded several security forces in the Kursk region, he said.
“If there is an increase in aggressive actions, we will respond unequivocally and in the same way,” the Russian president said, adding that Western leaders planning to use their forces against Moscow should “consider this very carefully.”
Putin said the Oreshnik shot down on Thursday hit a well-known factory in Dnipro. He also said Russia would issue warnings if it launched more Oreshnik strikes against Ukraine to allow civilians to flee to safety – something Moscow had not done before the previous airstrikes.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov initially said that Russia had not warned the US about the upcoming launch of the new missile, noting that it was under no obligation to do so. But he later changed his mind and said that Moscow had issued a warning 30 minutes before the launch.
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Putin’s announcement came hours after Ukraine said Russia had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile during an attack on the Dnipro, injuring two people and damaging an industrial complex and a rehabilitation center for the disabled, according to local officials. But American officials say that initial US tests indicated that the strike was carried out by a medium-range ballistic missile.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post that the use of the missile was “a clear and outrageous escalation of the scale and brutality of this war, a flagrant violation of the UN Charter.”
He also said that there was no “strong global reaction” to the use of the missile, which he said could threaten other countries.
“Putin is very sensitive to this. He is testing you, my dear colleagues,” wrote Zelenskyy. “If there is no serious response to Russia’s actions, then they realize that these actions are possible.”
The attack comes amid a week of heightened tensions, as the US eased restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American-made long-range ballistic missiles inside Russia and Putin lowered the threshold for launching nuclear weapons.
The Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement that the Dnipro attack was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region, on the Caspian Sea.
“Today, our crazy neighbor once again showed what he really is,” Zelenskyy said a few hours before Putin’s address. “And how scared you are.”
Russia was sending a message by attacking Ukraine with a ballistic missile capable of releasing multiple warheads at very high speeds, even if they are more accurate than cruise missiles or short-range missiles, said Matthew Savill, director of military science. the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank based in London.
“Then why would you use it?” Savill said. “Signing – signing of the Ukrainians. We have things that annoy you. But we are really signing to the West ‘We are happy to enter the competition around intermediate-range ballistic missiles. PS: This could be a nuclear tip. Do you really want to take that risk?'”
Military experts say today’s ICBMs and IRBMs are more difficult to intercept, although Ukraine has previously said it has deployed other weapons that Russia has described as “uninterceptable,” including the air-launched Kinzhal hypersonic missile.
David Albright, of the Washington-based think tank, the Institute for Science and International Security, said he was “skeptical” of Putin’s claims, adding that Russian technology was sometimes “innovative.”
He suggested that Putin was “taunting the West to try to shoot it down … like a braggart, mocking his enemy.”
Earlier this week, the Biden administration authorized Ukraine to use US-launched, long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia – a move that drew an angry response from Moscow.
Days later, Ukraine fired several missiles into Russia, according to the Kremlin. On the same day, Putin signed a new doctrine that allows for a possible nuclear response even to a general attack on Russia by any nuclear-backed nation.
This doctrine was developed broadly to avoid a firm commitment to the use of nuclear weapons. In response, the West, including the US, says Russia has used propaganda and reckless nuclear behavior throughout the war to intimidate Ukraine and other nations.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday that Russia’s official reduction of the limit on the use of nuclear weapons did not result in changes in American doctrine.
He pushed back on concerns that the decision to allow Ukraine to use Western missiles to strike deep inside Russia could escalate the war.
“They are the ones who are raising this,” he said of the Kremlin – in part because of the flood of North Korean troops sent to the region.
More than 1,000 1,000 days into the war, Russia is at the forefront, with its large army advancing to Donetsk and Ukraine whose civilians are suffering from endless drone strikes and missiles.
Analysts and observers say the loosening of restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western missiles is unlikely to change the war, but puts the Russian military in a highly vulnerable position and could complicate strategic planning.
Putin also warned that this would mean that Russia and NATO are at war.
“It’s an important and controversial step, undermining the fact that Putin was trying to make it clear that it’s OK for Russia to shoot down Iranian drones and North Korean missiles in Ukraine but it’s Ukraine’s reckless escalation to use Western-supplied weapons against legitimate targets in Russia,” said Peter Ricketts. , a former UK national security adviser who now sits in the House of Lords.
Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and Emma Burrows in London, and Zeke Miller and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at
