Russia fires new ballistic missile at Ukraine as Putin threatens West

KYIV – Russian forces launched a new medium-range ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday, President Vladimir Putin announced, calling the strike on the eastern city of Dnipro a warning to Washington and Kyiv’s other Western backers amid an escalating battle of airstrikes and missile launches between the warring nations.

In a televised speech late Thursday, Putin said Russia hit a Ukrainian military factory in Dnipro using a new medium-range “non-nuclear hypersonic ballistic” missile he referred to as “Oreshnik.” He said this “test” of the system was conducted in response to the Biden administration’s recent decision authorizing Ukraine to fire U.S.-made ATACMS missiles at military targets inside Russia.

“The matter of our deployment of small- and medium-range missiles will depend on the actions of the U.S. and their satellites,” Putin said, appearing to reference Ukraine’s other partners. “We consider ourselves in the right to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries, who allow the use of their weapons against our facilities.

“And in case of escalation of aggressive action, we will respond decisively and in a tit-for-tat manner. It is the U.S. that destroyed the system of international security, and by continuing to clutch to their hegemony they are pushing the whole world to a global conflict.”

A U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity, affirmed that this was an experimental missile and Russia has only limited stocks of it.

“Russia may be seeking to use this capability to try to intimidate Ukraine and its supporters,” the official said.

“It will not be a game changer in this conflict.”

Another U.S. official said Moscow warned the United States ahead of the weapon’s launch against Ukraine. The Kremlin disputed that.

The strike comes two days after Ukrainian forces fired the American-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) into Russia for the first time, following the Biden administration’s decision to lift restrictions on their use inside Russia. In addition, Russia reported that British-made Storm Shadow missiles were fired into its territory Wednesday.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in its daily report Thursday that its air defense systems “shot down two U.K.-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles,” but it did not provide details.

Russian military bloggers reported earlier that the missiles were fired at targets in Russia’s Kursk region.

British media outlets, including the BBC, confirmed the attacks, citing unidentified officials, but there have been no official statements.

British officials were previously vocal in supporting Ukraine using their missiles against Russia, but Britain appeared unwilling to act alone while the United States kept its ban. British officials hinted at a possible change this week, saying the government was working in cooperation with the United States.

Asked in Parliament whether Britain planned to “align with the United States” in granting Kyiv permission to use the British-supplied missiles, Maria Eagle, the minister of state for defense procurement, said the British government “absolutely” intended to “align with our allies in making sure that Ukraine can make use of the capability that has been offered” by its backers.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the use of the Storm Shadows a “new escalation.” He referred questions about Russia’s use of a ballistic missile to the Defense Ministry.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova appeared to take a call during her Thursday briefing in which an unknown person instructed her that the ministry is “not commenting” on the alleged launch of a ballistic missile.

“About ballistic missile strikes, which is forbidden to even talk about, we are not commenting on that at all,” said the person, the sound of whose voice was picked up on a microphone and could be heard clearly in the briefing. The moment was caught on a live stream of the briefing and was later cut from the ministry’s official video of the conference.

Zakharova later told the Russian state news agency Tass that the call was just an expert clarifying that the topic was not for the ministry. “So there is no intrigue,” she said.

In Thursday’s attack on Dnipro, the missile was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region on the Caspian Sea, which is more than 600 miles away, Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a statement, also suggested that Russia had fired an ICBM. “Today there was a new Russian rocket,” he said. “All characteristics – speed, altitude – of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Examinations are now underway. It is obvious that Putin is using Ukraine as a training ground.”

The attack began about 5 a.m., lasted two hours and included a shorter-range Kinzhal ballistic missile and seven cruise missiles, the air force said. Ukrainian air defenses shot down six cruise missiles, and “the other missiles (were) without significant consequences,” it said.

Local authorities said only that a rehabilitation center for people with disabilities was damaged, but Ukrainian military officials do not typically comment if sensitive facilities are hit. Russian military bloggers, meanwhile, suggested the target was a factory making long-range missiles.

One important factor is the choice of the weapon and the message Moscow intended to send, said Tom Karako, director of the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The launch came soon after the Biden administration authorized Ukraine to fire U.S.-provided ballistic missiles into Ukraine, and the attack could be interpreted as a response.

“I think it’s important not to get hung up on whether it is a quote, unquote ICBM,” Karako said. “But rather that it is a big rocket with a big payload, and that it is a particular kind of rocket that comes with some nuclear saber rattling as baggage.”

The change in Western policy to allow Ukraine to use U.S. and British weapons to strike inside Russia follows Moscow’s deployment of more than 10,000 North Korean troops to its Kursk region, where heavy fighting is taking place between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

U.S. officials emphasize that Washington is not at war with Russia. However, they also say that they view the deployment of North Korean troops as escalatory, and that the change in policy was intended in part to deter Pyongyang from sending additional forces.

At a Group of 20 summit in Brazil, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this week that he was “not going to get into operational details” on missiles in Ukraine “because the only winner, if we were to do that, is Putin.”

“I’ve been really clear for a long time now, we need to double down,” he said. “We need to make sure Ukraine has what is necessary for as long as necessary.”

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DeYoung reported from Washington and Francis from Brussels. Alex Horton and John Hudson in Washington, Serhii Korolchuk in Kyiv, Francesca Ebel in London and Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.