SOURCE: REUTERS
Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile during an attack on Ukraine on Thursday, Kyiv’s air force said, in the first known use in the war of a powerful weapon designed to deliver nuclear strikes thousands of kilometres away.
The launch was the latest sign of rapidly mounting tensions in the 33-month-old war after Ukraine fired U.S. and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week despite warnings by Moscow that it would see such action as a major escalation.
The missile was said to have hit “without consequences” the air force said, though it added that information about victims had yet to be received. Six of the other eight missiles were destroyed by air defences, the air force said in a morning update.
Russian ICBMs have ranges of more than 6,200 miles, in theory enough to reach the US east coast from Astrakhan, and are capable of being nuclear armed, suggesting that if the use of the weapon is confirmed it was a signal from Moscow.