Putin says Russia fired medium-range missile at Ukraine, not ICBM

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Putin says Russia fired medium-range missile at Ukraine, not ICBM

Published: 22 Nov. 2024, 15:10

LIM JEONG-WON
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Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a statement following a military strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Bryansk Region on Tuesday. [TASS/YONHAP]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that an attack on Ukraine that day involved a “medium-range missile without a nuclear warhead.”

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but Putin disputed this claim.

In a speech to the nation on state television Thursday, Putin said Russia attacked Ukrainian military facilities in response to American and British-made long-range weapons, referring to the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and Strom Shadow missiles Ukraine launched on Tuesday and Wednesday.

He said his country tested "one of the latest Russian medium-range missiles" that day.

Putin introduced the Russian missile as the Oreshnik, which means hazelnut tree in Russian.

He also claimed that U.S. and European missile defense systems cannot intercept the missiles.

Russia notified the United States 30 minutes before the launch through the automatic nonproliferation hotline, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Ukraine said the Russian military had launched an ICBM at a base in the city of Dnipro on Thursday, arguing that the speed and altitude of the missile suggested it was an ICBM.

That Putin himself came forward and said it was a medium-range missile, not an ICBM, suggests the Russian president wishes to avoid provoking the United States unnecessarily.

“Russia launching an ICBM sends the wrong signal to the United States that it is crossing a red line,” said a South Korean defense industry expert. “Putin’s remarks seem to mean that it will focus on the war with Ukraine for now.”

The U.S. government also believes a medium-range ballistic missile, not an ICBM, was used in the strike, according to media reports.

The U.S. Department of Defense said the missile launched at Ukraine by Russia was an “intermediate-range ballistic missile” (IRBM) in a press briefing.

"I can confirm that Russia did launch an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile," said Sabrina Singh, deputy spokesperson for the Department of Defense, during the briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday. "This IRBM was based on Russia's RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile model."

Singh also said the United States was notified "briefly" before the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels.

The Defense Department added that it was the first time a weapon of its kind had been used on the battlefield in Ukraine.

"This was a new type of lethal capability that was deployed on the battlefield," Singh said. "That's certainly of concern to us ... I don't have an assessment of its impacts right now, but it's something that, of course, we're concerned by."

BY KIM CHUL-WOONG, LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]