KYIV (ChatnewsTV) — Ukraine reported Thursday that Russia launched a new type of missile at the city of Dnipro, heightening tensions in the ongoing 33-month war. The strike involved a missile capable of carrying multiple warheads, raising concerns about a significant escalation.
Ukrainian officials claimed that Russia used an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a weapon traditionally designed for long-range nuclear strikes.
“Today there was a new Russian missile. All the characteristics — speed, altitude — are of an intercontinental ballistic missile,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a video address. However, U.S. officials suggested it was an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which has a shorter range than an ICBM.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation, confirming the launch of a medium-range ballistic missile in retaliation for recent Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory using Western-supplied weapons. Putin characterized the attack as a direct response to what he called a Ukrainian escalation.
Security experts emphasized the seriousness of the missile’s capabilities, especially if it carried a MIRVed (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle) payload.
“The fact that it carried a MIRVed payload is much more significant for signaling purposes,” noted Fabian Hoffmann, a missile technology specialist from the University of Oslo.
According to Ukraine’s air force, the missile fired at Dnipro originated from Russia’s Astrakhan region, over 700 kilometers away, though they did not specify the warhead type. A regional official, Serhiy Lysak, reported that the attack caused fires at an industrial facility in Dnipro, injuring two people.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry urged a swift international response, condemning what it described as “the use by Russia of a new type of weaponry.” Some experts see the launch, if confirmed, as an act of deterrence by Moscow following Ukraine’s recent long-range strikes into Russian territory, which were made possible by Western weaponry.
The incident follows a week of intensified military actions, with Ukraine firing British Storm Shadow missiles into Russia’s Kursk region and U.S. ATACMS missiles targeting Russian facilities. These actions have sparked warnings from Moscow, which views such strikes as a significant escalation.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military charity Come Back Alive released a video showing glowing projectiles descending over Dnipro, fueling speculation about the missile’s nature. German security expert Ulrich Kuehn remarked, “It looks as if Russia has today used an intercontinental ballistic missile in a war for the first time in history, against the civilian target Dnipro.”
