What are Russia’s RS-26 missiles? Ukraine says first ICBM used in strike

Russia used a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) against Ukraine for the first time, Kyiv’s air force said Thursday, in a move likely intended to send a message from the Kremlin at a crucial juncture in the nearly three-year war.

The ICBM was launched at the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro from Russia’s southwestern Astrakhan region, Ukraine’s air force said, adding that Moscow separately fired a Kinzhal hypersonic missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles.

At the time of writing, Russia’s Defense Ministry had not acknowledged the reports, while the Kremlin and the Russian Foreign Ministry deflected questions about the alleged use of the ICBM in a Thursday briefing.

The attack comes shortly after the US closed its embassy in the capital, saying it had “received specific information of a potentially significant airstrike” on Wednesday.

US officials said earlier this week that Washington had authorized Ukraine’s use of US-made Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, against Russian territory in a reversal of longstanding White House policy. Russia said Ukraine had used six ATACMS in Russia’s border Bryansk region in an “escalation” of the conflict.

Britain has yet to publicly confirm whether it has given Ukraine the go-ahead to launch British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia, but several British media outlets reported that Kiev had used the air-launched missiles for the first time.

Earlier this week, Moscow updated its nuclear doctrine to justify a nuclear strike against a non-nuclear nation if that country attacks Russia and is backed by a nuclear power. The change came on the same day Ukraine marked 1,000 days of full-scale war with its neighbor, amid concerns about how US support for Ukraine will change when President-elect Donald Trump steps down from the White House in January.

Jim Townsend, a former Pentagon official, said Thursday that he was not surprised that Russia would launch a conventionally armed ICBM in its war effort against Ukraine.

“It’s a step up in terms of the delivery vehicle,” Townsend said, answering one Newsweek questions during a panel at the Royal United Services Institute, a UK-based think tank.

“There are a lot of things that Putin is doing right now to express displeasure with ATACMS,” Townsend said, but also to set the tone for the incoming Trump administration.

What is an intercontinental ballistic missile and is it a nuclear weapon?

An ICBM is a ballistic missile that can travel distances of more than 5,500 kilometers or about 3,417 miles. They are considered a strategic weapon capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Their long range means they can threaten an enemy’s soil from thousands of kilometers away. The US is currently upgrading its Minuteman III ICBMs, which form the land-based part of its nuclear triad, to Sentinel ICBMs.

The ICBM reported by Ukraine is believed to be a road mobile RS-26, also known as the Rubezh missile. It can carry a nuclear or conventional payload or have multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles carrying explosives to multiple targets.

However, there are questions as to whether an RS-26 was used or whether it was an intermediate-range ballistic missile that could travel shorter distances. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the missile’s “characteristics”, including its speed and altitude, had indicated it was an ICBM, but that investigations were ongoing.

The RS-26 has been tested at ranges below the classification for an ICBM, raising concerns that Russia has gone against the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. This treaty, signed between the United States and the then Soviet Union in the 1980s, banned land-launched ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with ranges greater than 500 kilometers and less than 5,500 kilometers.

Rubezh never officially entered service and is still classified as under development.

This was told by a former Ukrainian official Newsweek that the ICBM targeting Dnipro carried about 1,200 kilograms of explosives and “acts as a cluster bomb” that splits into six separate warheads before hitting the target. Ukraine’s air force declined to comment when contacted by it Newsweek.

Video footage purportedly from the attack appears to show six different clusters of munitions allegedly hitting the Yuzhmash defense and space plant. Newsweek could not independently verify this.

Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region that covers Dnipro, said an industrial building, several houses, garages and a rehabilitation center were damaged. Two people were injured, Lysak said.

Has an ICBM been used before?

Much remains unclear about the launch, but if confirmed, this would be the first combat use of a conventional ICBM, or intermediate-range ballistic missile, in history.

Analysts say that if Russia used a Rubezh missile, it would not be the practical choice for a target like the Dnipro facility.

“The RS-26 is designed to carry nuclear warheads, but apparently it did not in this attack,” said William Freer, a researcher at the Council on Geostrategy think tank.

“Russia likely used the RS-26 as a way to try to intimidate Ukraine’s supporters by raising tensions over the use of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile, one capable of hitting European capitals,” Freer added. “Its use is a signal rather than based on a military need.”