kyiv accused Moscow this Thursday of having fired an intercontinental ballistic missile against its territory for the first time. The Ukrainian Air Force has reported that Russia launched the rocket between five and seven in the morning this Thursday from the Astrakhan region, 1,000 kilometers from its target, the city of Dnipro. kyiv has not reported the type of rocket launched, although some Ukrainian media had warned on the eve of the imminent launch of an RS-26 Rubezh, the new generation of Russian ballistic missiles. Sources from the United States Government deny, however, that it is an intercontinental missile. They maintain that, in reality, a ballistic missile, commonly used in Germany, has been used.
The Russian offensive against Dinpro has included the firing of a Kinzhal hypersonic missile by a fighter from the Tambov region and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles launched from Tupolev strategic bombers, according to kyiv authorities. The Ukrainian army has reported the downing of six of the Kh-101s launched by Moscow during the same attack, while the impact of the rest of the weapons “had no significant consequences.” The target of the Russian forces was, as reported in kyiv, “businesses and critical infrastructure in the city of Dnipro, in the center-east of the country.” This show of Russian force comes only .
American denial
American sources have denied the Ukrainian version to CNN and ABC television networks, warning that it is not an intercontinental missile. The use of this type of weaponry would mean an unprecedented escalation of war in the three years of invasion.
According to international protocols, when testing intercontinental missiles, designed for nuclear war, Russia should notify Washington beforehand of their launch, to avoid a global alert.
CNN has indicated that “senior Western officials” have denied that it is an intercontinental rocket. They have done so in Vientiane, the capital of that country, where the meeting of defense ministers of ASEAN (the association of Southeast Asian nations) is being held. The United States Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, participates in the summit. These sources have indicated that a conventional ballistic missile has actually been used.
Silence in Moscow
Neither the Kremlin nor the Russian Foreign Ministry have wanted to comment on the information. Despite this, during a press appearance, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, María Zajárova, received a call and the microphones were able to capture that her interlocutor asked her not to talk about the attack “with a ballistic missile” against an arms plant. in Dnipro.
Ukrainian authorities are trying to clarify whether there were any casualties during the bombing. “So far we know of the damage suffered by an industrial company in Dnipro and that there were also two fires in the city,” Serhii Lysak, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, published on Telegram.
The attack has forced the Ukrainian government to introduce electricity cuts in the regions of kyiv, Dnipro, Odessa, Sumu, Zhytomyr and Donetsk to balance the supply, according to the newspaper. This newspaper claims that the missiles fired by the bombers entered Ukrainian airspace from the north of the country and then diverted towards the southeast.
The Ukrainian media speculated on the eve of this attack that Moscow would test its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental missile, one of the pillars of the new Russian nuclear triad. This also includes the Kinzhal, capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional ammunition, which have already been thoroughly tested in the Ukrainian war. The RS-26 Rubezh has a range of up to 6,000 kilometers and is capable of carrying a 1.2-ton warhead.
The United States and several European countries, including Spain, face possible retaliation by Russia for the use of Western missiles against military targets on its territory. After receiving authorization from the White House, Ukrainian forces against an arsenal in the Bryansk region, and a day later.
Ukraine had received these missiles a long time ago, but the Joe Biden Administration had been against kyiv using them inside Russian territory. Until this week, when . The Democratic administration feared an escalation if Ukrainian forces attacked Russian bases and airfields protected in the rear, but has pushed the White House to allow kyiv to use the weapons at least until .
Russian President Vladimir Putin is silent for the moment. Yes, he has spoken, however, with his actions: last Tuesday the president signed the decree by which the new Russian nuclear doctrine comes into force, which contemplates the use of nuclear deterrence not only in the event that the Russian State is in danger. in its entirety, but also if its sovereignty or territory is threatened. In addition, the document also emphasizes that Moscow will consider a nuclear power an aggressor if it provides weapons—even conventional—to an “aggressor” state that does not have weapons of mass destruction.
