Russia Ukraine War Latest: Putin Fires New Ballistic Missile Is ‘Serious Escalation’ As Nato, Kiev Meet

While the launch of an IRBM sent a less threatening signal, the incident could still set off alarms, and Moscow notified Washington shortly before the launch, according to US officials.

Russian military expert Anatoly Matviychuk said it could carry six to eight conventional or nuclear warheads and was likely already in use.

Putin said the missile was traveling at 10 times the speed of sound and therefore could not be intercepted, and Russian sources say the range was 3,1000 miles.

It also appeared to have multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles: separate warheads capable of hitting different targets.

Ukraine’s air force initially said the missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) — the kind that Russia could hit the United States with.

But the US military later said the weapon was an intermediate-range missile (IRBM) based on the design of Russia’s long-range RS-26 ICBM missile

The Pentagon said it was launched with a conventional warhead, but Moscow could change that if it wanted, with Russia possessing only a handful of them.

“It could be converted to certainly carry different types of conventional or nuclear warheads,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said.

A Russian drone attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy killed two people and injured 12 on Friday morning, regional authorities said.

Twelve apartment buildings, five private residences, a shop and three cars were damaged after three drones attacked the city at around 10am. 05:00 (0300 GMT), the national police said.

Volodymyr Artiukh, Sumy regional governor, said Russian forces had equipped drones with shrapnel for the attack on a densely populated area of ​​the city.

“This weapon is used exclusively to kill people,” Artiukh said, pointing to scars on a damaged building. “Not for a plant, but to destroy more people.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said the Korean peninsula has never been so close to a nuclear war after what he described as “aggressive” moves by the United States in particular.

“Never before have the warring parties on the Korean Peninsula faced such a dangerous and acute confrontation that it could escalate into the most devastating thermonuclear war,” Kim said.

“We have already gone as far as we can in negotiating with the United States, but what we became sure of from the result is not the will of the superpower to coexist, but its thorough power position and aggressive and hostile policy towards us, which can never change.”

Nato and Ukraine are meeting in Brussels, Belgium, next week in response to Moscow’s use of the Oreshnik missile on the Dnipro in central Ukraine.

The meeting on Tuesday of the NATO-Ukraine Council will take place at ambassadorial level. It was called by Kiev after the strike on the city of Dnipro.

Russia’s use of a new experimental hypersonic missile is a serious escalation of the conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned.

Zelensky said the attack on Dnipro in central Ukraine with a medium-range ballistic warhead on Thursday was “another proof that Russia has no interest in peace”.

Ukrainian air defense forces said the missile – which has a range of more than 3,400 miles and can be used to carry nuclear warheads – was fired from Russia’s Astrakhan region on the Caspian Sea.

“He is testing you, dear partners. He must be stopped. Lack of tough reactions to Russia’s actions sends a message that such behavior is acceptable. This is what Putin is doing,” Zelensky said.

“Pressure is needed. Russia must be forced into real peace, which can only be achieved through strength,” he added.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia had hit Ukraine with a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile in response to Kiev’s use of US and British missiles against Russia.

Putin said the “Oreshnik” (hazel tree), one of Russia’s newest medium-range missiles, was a hypersonic ballistic missile.

He said it traveled at 10 times the speed of sound and therefore could not be intercepted. Russian sources said the range was 5,000 km (3,100 miles), allowing Russia to attack most of Europe and the US West Coast.

It appears to have multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles: separate warheads capable of hitting different targets.

Anatoly Matviychuk, a Russian military expert, said it could carry six to eight conventional or nuclear warheads and was likely already in service, according to Yuri Podolyaka, a prominent Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger.

The Pentagon said the missile launched by Russia was based on the “RS-26 Rubezh” intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

It said the United States had been notified of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels.

The RS-26 is a solid-fuel, road-mobile ballistic missile that entered development in 2008.

The United States formally withdrew from the landmark 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia in 2019 after saying Moscow violated the agreement, a charge the Kremlin denied.

The US said at the time that Russia was developing a surface-based cruise missile (known as the 9M729 in Russia) that was different from the RS-26.

The Foreign Secretary has vowed to continue to “do whatever is necessary” to help Ukraine fight Russia after Vladimir Putin threatened to attack Britain.

The Russian president used a new ballistic missile against Ukraine on Thursday, where Mr. Putin claimed the use of the weapon was a response to Britain and the US allowing missiles they have supplied to Ukraine to attack targets in Russia.

“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities in those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities,” he said.

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The interior minister has said that “we will continue” to see “aggressive language” from Vladimir Putin.

Asked about the Russian leader’s threat to use weapons against nations that allow their own weapons to be used against Russia, Yvette Cooper said Sky News this morning: “Russia invaded a sovereign state.

“We’ve seen the aggressive, blustering tone and response from Putin throughout this, it’s completely unacceptable and we will continue to see that kind of aggressive language.

“We are clear that this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated, which is why we have provided support to Ukraine as they defend themselves against Putin’s aggression.”

Ms Cooper also declined to officially confirm whether British weapons had been used by Ukraine in Russia, saying: “I will not comment on the details of any individual defense operations.”