Ukraine claims Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile overnight at Dnipro city in the central-east of the country as tensions continue to rise after American and British weapons were deployed against Putin for the first time.
In a statement Thursday on the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s air force did not specify the exact type of missile, but said it was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region, which borders the Caspian Sea.
It said an intercontinental ballistic missile was fired at Dnipro city along with eight other missiles, and that the Ukrainian military shot down six of them. Two people were wounded as a result of the attack, and an industrial facility and a rehabilitation center for people with disabilities were damaged, according to local officials.
The launch was also reportedly caught on camera as the nuclear-capable weapon was fired in anger by Russia for the first time.
Moscow's ambassador has also claimed that Britain is now "directly involved" in the Ukraine war, after its Storm Shadow missile was used inside Russia.
Andrei Kelin told Sky News: "Britain and UK is now directly involved in this war, because this firing cannot happen without NATO staff, British staff as well. I can say easily that we have plenty of mercenaries from different countries that are fighting right now on the side of Ukraine."
The news comes amid heightened tensions as Kremlin sources also briefed of the possibility of an attack on a US airbase in Poland – an act of aggression that would almost certainly trigger a wider confrontation between NATO countries and Putin's war machine.
While the range of an ICBM would seem excessive for use against Ukraine, such missiles are designed to carry nuclear warheads, and the use of one would serve as a chilling reminder of Russia’s nuclear capability and a powerful message of potential escalation.
The attack comes two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine that formally lowers the threshold for the country’s use of nuclear weapons. Ukraine on Tuesday fired several American-supplied longer-range missiles and reportedly fired U.K.-made Storm Shadows on Wednesday into Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement early 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 roundup regarding the military actions in Ukraine.
The statement didn’t say when or where exactly it happened or what the missiles were targeting. This is not Moscow’s first public announcement of the shooting down of Storm Shadow missiles, as Russia earlier reported downing some over the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
The developments come as 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 U.S. officials said prompted U.S. President Joe Biden’s policy shift on allowing Ukraine to fire longer-range U.S. missiles into Russia. The Kremlin responded with threats to escalate further.
Putin has previously warned the U.S. and other NATO allies that allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied longer-range weapons to hit Russian territory would mean that Russia and NATO are at war.
And the new doctrine allows for a potential nuclear response by Moscow even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power.
While the doctrine envisions a possible nuclear response by Russia to a conventional strike, it is formulated broadly to avoid a firm commitment to use nuclear weapons and keep Putin’s options open.