Ukraine’s military says Russian ICBM strikes Dnipro, claim denied by Western official

LONDON and KYIV — Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday, officials in Kiev said, but a Western official told ABC News that the strike did not appear to be an ICBM.

It was instead a ballistic missile aimed at Dnipro in southeastern Ukraine, the Western official said.

The claim was not immediately confirmed by Moscow, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declining to comment, saying questions about it should instead be directed to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Ukrainian Air Force announced on Thursday morning that it had tracked the launch of the ICBM along with six additional missiles, all of which were aimed at the Dnipro region. The ICBM appeared to have been launched from the Astrahan region in southwestern Russia, Ukrainian military officials said.

All of the missiles were fired in about two hours, starting around 5 a.m., Ukraine said.

All targeted businesses and critical infrastructure, but only the missile, which Ukraine identified as an ICBM, hit the city, Ukraine said. The other six missiles were shot down. There were no reports of injuries or significant damage, officials said.

The launch of an ICBM, if confirmed, would arrive amid concerns that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could escalate further. Ukraine’s military this week first launched US-made ATACMS missiles at targets in Russia, days after US President Joe Biden authorized such use of long-range weapons.

Kyiv launched six of the ATACMS on Tuesday against targets inside Russian territory, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would not confirm whether Ukraine had used ATACMS to carry out an attack on an ammunition depot in the Bryansk region of Russia, but said Ukraine has ATACMS and “will use all of these” against Russia.

Within hours of Russia announcing that it had downed five of the ATACMS on Tuesday, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had updated the country’s nuclear doctrine, a move that lowered the bar for Russia’s response with nuclear weapons.

Russian ICBMs are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, although it appeared the missile launched Thursday was not.

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Lauren Minore and Yulia Drozd contributed to this report.