The journalist of the Helsingin Sanomat gave an assessment of the Russian missiles launch
Photo: Video frame of the attack on Dnepropetrovsk / RIA
Contrary to initial information, the missile turned out to be a medium-range ballistic missile. According to NATO and ISW, it will not change the course of the war or increase the nuclear threat.
On Thursday morning, Russia struck Dnipro in eastern central Ukraine with several different types of missiles.
The Ukrainian Air Force initially claimed that one of the missiles was a high-speed, intercontinental ballistic missile. The estimate turned out to be wrong during the day.
According to current information, it was an experimental medium-range missile.
Initial information about the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile raised immediate, widespread and justified concerns about a significant escalation of the war and the intensification of the fear of nuclear war.
It would have been the first time an intercontinental ballistic missile had been used in active military operations.
On Thursday, Russia launched a ballistic missile towards the Dnipro region. Russia attacked simultaneously with several different types of missiles.
In addition to the medium-range missile, the group included one Kinzhal missile and seven H-101 cruise missiles, which were launched from Russian fighter jets and bombers. The Ukrainian Air Force announced that it had intercepted six cruise missiles.
The fast-moving ballistic missile, which the Ukrainian Air Force initially claimed was an intercontinental ballistic missile, had been launched from Astrakhan in southern Russia.
An air raid alert was sounded in Ukraine due to the threat of ballistic missiles. The Air Force urged citizens to seek shelter.
The missile did not carry a nuclear warhead. The damage from the strike was also apparently minimal: according to authorities, some buildings were damaged and two people were injured.
Soon after, the U.S. news channel CNN reported that, according to a Western official source, the ballistic missile launched by Russia into Ukraine was not an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The new assessment was that it was an experimental medium-range ballistic missile. Later on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed the information.
Vladimir Putin gave a televised speech on Thursday evening, in which he spoke about the new type of medium-range missile used in Ukraine.
The experimental medium-range missile launched by Russia will not change the course of the war or NATO's support for Ukraine, a NATO spokesman commented, according to the AFP news agency.
Analysts say it is still a new escalation that could affect European missile defense, Reuters reports.
The missile strike and Putin's threatening speeches that followed it do not indicate a significant increase in Russia's strike capability or increase the likelihood of the use of nuclear weapons, the U.S. think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed in its daily review on Thursday.
ISW justifies its reassuring view, among other things, by the fact that Russia has so far used ballistic Iskander missiles, hypersonic ballistic Kinzhal missiles and H-101 cruise missiles, all of which could carry nuclear warheads.
ISW concludes that Vladimir Putin's rhetoric directed at the West about crossing the last frontiers has often proved to be empty talk in the past.
Putin said in his televised speech on Thursday evening that Russia had used a new missile in Ukraine, which was a "hypersonic warhead without a nuclear warhead".
Russia, he said, conducted a “missile test” in response to Western hostility.
Putin said the new missile is called Orešnik, or Hazelnut.
Such a MIRV (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle) missile has several warheads, each of which can target a specific location, allowing a single ballistic missile to launch a wider attack. This would be the first time that a MIRV system has been used in military operations, according to an analyst interviewed by CNN.
Putin also said in his speech that Russia has the right to strike countries whose missiles Ukraine uses in its attacks on Russia. The statement is in line with recent changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine.
According to President Putin, however, Russia is ready to settle all disputes peacefully.
Initially, the missile was estimated to be an intercontinental RS-26 Rubezh missile, which has a range of 6,000 kilometers and a flight speed of about 6.8 kilometers per second. Later, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said that the new missile type is based on its model.
The reason for the miscalculation is likely the characteristics of the missile. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that the characteristics of the missile, such as speed and flight altitude, indicated that it was an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The U.S. said it had anticipated the strike, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday. The U.S. closed its embassy in Kiev for the day on Wednesday after receiving information about a “potentially significant air strike”.
The spokesperson said the U.S. had informed Ukraine and other allies about the incident.
Russia said it had notified the U.S. of the missile launch 30 minutes before the strike. Pentagon spokesman Singh confirmed this.
The White House spokesman said the U.S. saw no reason to change its own nuclear weapons doctrine.
Source: Helsingin Sanomat
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