Moscow:
Russia has fired an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile or ICBM at Ukraine a day after Vladimir Putin changed Moscow’s nuclear doctrine. The firing of the ICBM with a conventional (non-nuclear) warhead is a stern warning to Ukraine and its Western allies that Moscow’s red lines must be respected.
Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles, popularly referred as ICBMs are traditionally designed to carry a nuclear warhead, however it may also be used for conventional warheads. The concept, technology, design, and research behind ICBMs were to cater to a country’s response in a nuclear event.
Moscow’s strong response comes days after US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer allowed Ukraine to use western long-range cruise and ballistic missiles to target deep within Russian territory. Within hours of those approvals from Washington and London, Kyiv fired a US-made ATACMS missile and a UK-made ‘Storm Shadow’ missile targeting Russian territories.
This is the first time Moscow has fired an ICBM, said Kyiv, as both sides saw major escalations in the war that marked its 1,000th day on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian Air Force released a statement today in which it said that Russian forces had launched various types of missiles at the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro this morning. The aim, they said, was to cripple Ukrainian infrastructure.
The statement went on to say that “In particular, an intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation.” According to a news report by AFP, a source in the Ukrainian Air Force has confirmed that it was the first time since the beginning of the war in Ukraine that an ICBM was fired.
When questioned about the ICBM launch, Moscow evaded the question. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he had “nothing to say on this topic.”
The Kremlin, however, did claim it was making “maximum effort” to avoid a nuclear conflict after it updated its nuclear doctrine this week. The new policy allows Moscow to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states and Russia said it should be seen as a warning to the West.
“We have stressed in the context of our doctrine that Russia is taking a responsible position to make maximum effort not to allow such a conflict,” the Russian spokesperson said.
Ukraine’s Air Force said in its statement that it had successfully downed six missiles fired by Moscow, however it did not specify whether the Russian ICBM was one of them. Russian aerial bombardment has reportedly damaged several homes in Dnipro, while also causing wide-scale destruction across the city. An industrial complex and a rehabilitation centre was also destroyed.
Moscow too, said its air defence systems had downed two Storm Shadow missiles, but did not specify if they were downed within Ukrainian airspace or on Russian territory.
The more than two-and-a-half-year long war between Russia and Ukraine has moved further away from the diplomacy and dialogue table with a massive escalation by both sides, especially after crossing the grim and unfortunate 1,000th-day mark.
Both sides have used deadly long-range missiles to show its muscular posturing, even as several world leaders have urged Putin and Zelensky to resort to diplomacy to find an agreeable outcome to the war.