Ukraine accuses Russia of launching intercontinental ballistic missile in Dnipro
Ukraine’s military has accused Russia of launching an intercontinental ballistic missile in an attack on the city of Dnipro. The air force did not say what kind of ICBM was deployed and CNN has not been able to verify the claim. A Western official said it was a ballistic missile, but not an ICBM.
Ukraine launched British-French-made Storm Shadow missiles at targets inside Russia for the first time, a day after its first firing of US-made longer-range missiles into Russian territory.
The US embassy in Kyiv will reopen today after disinformation prompted some Western embassies in Ukraine’s capital to close temporarily. Ukraine said Russia staged an “information and psychological attack” by spreading a fake warning of an air attack on the city.
The US will send Ukraine more weapons as a part of a $275 million funding package. The US will also send anti-personnel mines to Ukraine for the first time — a major policy shift on the controversial weapons.
Ukraine has batteries of the Patriot missile defense system supplied by the United States and Germany that are capable of intercepting incoming ballistic missile warheads, according to the Missile Threat Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Patriot system is designed to engage incoming warheads either with an exploding warhead of their own, or with kinetic interceptors – so-called “hit-to-kill” technology, which destroys the incoming warhead by striking it directly.
Patriot interceptors have a vertical range of about 20 kilometers (12 miles) and defend an area of about 15 to 20 kilometers around the battery, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Kyiv reported its armed forces have successfully used the Patriot system to intercept incoming Russian Kinzhal ballistic missiles in 2023. But the Kinzhal is an air-launched ballistic missile, fired from MiG-fighter jets and is an easier target than a warhead from an intercontinental ballistic missile.
