Ukraine accuses Russia of launching an intercontinental ballistic missile Russia-Ukraine war News

President Vladimir Putin says Russia tested a hypersonic-intermediate-range missile in a strike against Ukraine.

Ukraine has accused Russia of firing a new type of missile into the city of Dnipro as Moscow says it tested an intermediate-range missile in a strike against Ukraine, amid heightened tensions in the more than two-year war.

Kyiv said on Thursday that Russia had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and an array of rockets at a city in central Ukraine. Local authorities said the attack hit infrastructure and injured two people.

In a televised address, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had tested a hypersonic-intermediate-range missile in a strike against Ukraine in response to aggressive actions by NATO countries.

A US official was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying that Russia did not fire an ICBM, but instead launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile, according to an assessment based on its initial analysis.

“Today there was a new Russian missile. All the features – speed, height – are there [of an] intercontinental ballistic [missile],” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video statement.

He said experts were examining evidence of the attack and accused Moscow of “using Ukraine as a testing ground”.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said the strike “proves that Russia does not want peace”.

“On the contrary, it makes every effort to increase the war,” he added.

When asked about the attack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was working to avoid a nuclear conflict.

“We emphasized in the context of our doctrine that Russia takes the position of making a great effort not to allow such a conflict,” Peskov said.

Attack on Russia

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has escalated in recent days after the US gave Ukraine permission to use long-range weapons to attack positions in Russia, a decision that Ukraine has been demanding for months.

On Tuesday, Ukraine reportedly fired US-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) missiles at Russian targets for the first time.

Putin on Tuesday lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a wide range of conventional attacks.

On Wednesday, British media reported that Ukraine had launched British Storm Shadow cruise missiles at targets in Russia. The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed the use of missiles.

Separately, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the opening of a new US missile defense base in Poland as “an offensive step in a series of actions that deeply undermines the American people and their allies”.

“This leads to damage to strategic stability, an increase in strategic risks and, as a result, to an increase in the overall level of nuclear risk,” he said.

Poland rejected the idea that the base would be used for offensive purposes.

The escalation comes as Moscow’s military has pushed deeper into the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. The Russian military announced on Thursday that its troops had captured a village near Kurakhove, sealing off the town after months of continuous advances.

Ukraine’s defensive lines also buckled under Russian pressure across the front line.