Russia fires 'experimental' weapon based on nuclear missile at Ukraine, Pentagon says

Attack comes two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed revised nuclear rules

Ukrainian firefighters tackle a blaze after a Russian missile attack in Dnipro on Thursday. AFP

Russia launched a new kind of ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday, in a move the EU described as a “clear escalation”.

The Pentagon described the weapon as an "experimental" intermediate-range ballistic missile and said Moscow notified the US shortly before its launch, on nuclear risk reduction channels.

"This was a new type of lethal capability that was deployed on the battlefield. So that's certainly a concern to us," Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. She said the weapon was based on the RS-26 Rubezh nuclear missile, and that it had never before been used on the battlefield.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was a new, medium-range ballistic missile armed with a conventional warhead.

The West and Russia accuse each other of escalating the war in Ukraine and tension this week has reached alarming new levels. Moscow updated its nuclear doctrine to allow for a potential nuclear response, even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power.

The West blames Russia for invading Ukraine and for escalating the war by bringing thousands of North Korean troops into the fight.

Mr Putin said the US and UK had escalated the war by allowing Kyiv to use American and British weapons against targets in Russia. He said Thursday's attack was in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of US and UK missiles on Russian territory this week.

Those weapons have ranges of only a few hundred kilometres, however. Russia's RS-26 Rubezh is a solid-fuelled ICBM with a 5,800km range, according to the Arms Control Association. Ms Singh said the weapon used on Thursday could be fitted with a nuclear warhead.

Ukraine’s air force said the missile attacking Dnipro was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region, which borders the Caspian Sea.

Russia also fired a Kinzhal hypersonic missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles, six of which were shot down, the Ukrainian air force said. Regional Governor Serhiy Lysak said the missile attack damaged an industrial enterprise and set off fires in Dnipro. Two people were hurt.

The EU's foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano said the use of a long-range ballistic missile would mark a “clear escalation” that would represent a “quantitative and qualitative change” in the war.

An IRBM is similar in terms of performance to an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. The use of such a weapon is an expensive way to wage war – the cost of the US Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, developed to replace the 1970s-era Minuteman, has risen to as much as $162 million each, Bloomberg News reported this year.

“This is a very powerful message from Putin,” said Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. “It’s a very calculated move as it does not require retaliation by the US.”

The attack comes two days after Mr Putin signed revised nuclear rules, formally lowering the threshold for the country's use of nuclear weapons.

The new doctrine allows for a potential nuclear response by Moscow, but is formulated broadly to avoid a firm commitment to use nuclear weapons and keep Mr Putin’s options open.

The updated doctrine came on the same day Ukraine fired several American-supplied longer-range missiles and reportedly fired UK-made Storm Shadows into Russia.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Thursday that its air defence systems shot down two British-made Storm Shadow missiles, six Himars rockets, and 67 drones. The announcement came in the ministry’s daily round-up regarding the military actions in Ukraine.

Britain's Defence Secretary John Healey told the UK Parliament's Defence Committee on Thursday: “This is a serious moment that I come before the committee. Defence intelligence will reveal today that the front line is now less stable than at any time since the early days of the full scale Russian invasion in 2022.”

Responding to reports of the Russian use of a ballistic missile, he added: “Be in no doubt that [the] UK government is stepping up our support for Ukraine, determined to continue doubling down our support for Ukraine.” Downing Street described the reports as "deeply concerning".

The war has taken on a growing international dimension with the arrival of North Korean troops to help Russia on the battlefield – a development that US officials said prompted President Joe Biden’s policy shift to allowing Ukraine to fire longer-range US missiles into Russia. The Kremlin responded with threats to escalate further.

The US issued new sanctions against Russia on Thursday, focusing on Moscow's use of the international financial system.

"In response to Russian aggression, President Biden has led international efforts alongside the G7 and many of our allies and partners to hold Russia accountable for its aggression," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. "Today’s sanctions will further curtail Russia’s abuse of the international financial system to help finance its war against Ukraine."

Meanwhile, former German chancellor Angela Merkel has revealed that she tried to slow Ukraine’s bid for Nato membership during her time in office over fears it would provoke Mr Putin.

Ms Merkel discusses the situation in her new memoirs, Freedom: Memories 1954 – 2021, which explores the 2008 Nato summit in Bucharest, when Ukraine and Georgia’s bids were discussed.

While she “understood” the desire of central and eastern European countries to join Nato “as soon as possible”, Ms Merkel said she believed their accession should improve the security of the alliance overall.

But none of the other potential members’ applications were as complicated as Ukraine’s due to the presence of Russia’s Black Sea fleet off Crimea. The eventual outcome of the summit, was, however, seen as negative by both sides.

Ukraine and Georgia considered the lack of a clear path to membership as a setback for their aspirations, while Mr Putin considered the broader promise from the alliance a provocation.

“I thought it was an illusion to assume that candidate status would protect Ukraine and Georgia from Putin's aggression; that this status would have such a deterrent effect that Putin would passively accept the developments,” Ms Merkel wrote in an excerpt from the book published in Die Zeit on Thursday.

“The fact that Georgia and Ukraine did not receive a commitment on candidate status was a 'no' to their hopes. The fact that Nato also offered them a general promise of membership was for Putin a 'yes' to Nato membership for both countries and a declaration of war.”