It was not an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) known as ‘Oreshnik’ that was launched by Russia at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro early Thursday morning.
‘Oreshnik’ was a newly developed hypersonic ballistic missile that was launched by Russia in a warning to the West.
Kremlin on Friday said the new missile was designed to warn the West that Moscow will respond to moves by the US, and UK to let Kyiv strike Russia with their missiles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that it had fired the new missile- the Oreshnik- at a Ukrainian military facility.
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov said Russia had not been obliged to warn the US about the strike but had informed the US 30 minutes before the launch anyway.
What’s Oreshnik ballistic missile?
The name ‘Oreshnik’ translates to ‘hazelnut tree’ in Russian. It’s a hypersonic ballistic missile, that can travel 10 times the speed of sound and so could not be intercepted.
According to Russian sources, the range of the missiles was 5,000 km. Putin described the missile in Russian as "medium-range" but Russian military experts said the English term would be "intermediate-range".
It appears to have multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles: separate warheads able to hit different targets.
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Experts opine that the missile could carry six to eight conventional or nuclear warheads.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said that the missile that Russia fired was based on the RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It said the US had been notified of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels.
In a major escalation, Ukraine’s air force initially said Russia had fired an ICBM at Dnipro, though the US denied the claim. ICBMs are defined as having a range greater than 5,500 km (3,400 miles).
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a Russian attack with a new type of ballistic missile was a “clear and severe escalation”.
Meanwhile, the UK home secretary has said that "we will continue" to see "aggressive language" from Vladimir Putin after the Russian leader threatened to strike the UK.
Also, NATO and Ukraine will hold talks on Tuesday in Brussels over Russia's firing of an experimental hypersonic intermediate-range missile.