While the milestone of the 1000th day of war was passed on Tuesday, tension continues to rise between Ukraine and Russia. kyiv accuses Moscow this Thursday, November 21, of having fired an intercontinental missile at the city of Dnipro, a first since the start of fighting in February 2022. If the use of this type of weapon, a vector of Russian nuclear deterrence, is confirmed, it marks a new escalation. Russia said it was preparing an “appropriate” response to Ukraine’s use of Western missiles on Russian territory, which Moscow had described as a red line.
Information to remember
⇒ Russia fired an intercontinental missile at Ukraine for the first time
⇒ Moscow assures that it is making “maximum efforts to avoid” a nuclear war
⇒ Ukraine hit Russia with British long-range missiles
Ukraine accuses Russia of firing intercontinental missile at Dnipro
Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile in an attack on the town of Dnipro in east-central Ukraine on Thursday, for the first time since its invasion began in 2022, the air force charged Ukrainian. “An intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Russian Astrakhan region,” the Air Force said in a statement. “This is the first time. We have never had this kind of missile before,” a source within this army told AFP. It is “obvious” that the missile used did not carry a nuclear charge, added this source. Missiles of this type are designed to carry nuclear warheads and strike from thousands of kilometers away. They can also be equipped with a conventional charge.
Asked by the media on this subject during his daily briefing, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov refused to comment: “I have nothing to say on this topic,” he said.
Russia will make “maximum efforts to avoid” a nuclear war
The Kremlin affirmed this Thursday that Russia would make “maximum efforts” to prevent a nuclear war after a revision of Russian doctrine which broadens the possibility of using atomic weapons, in the midst of tension between Moscow and the West around the conflict in Ukraine.
“We stressed that, following our doctrine, Russia adopts a responsible position in order to make maximum efforts not to allow such a conflict,” declared the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, hoping that “other countries” will have “this responsible posture”.
Moscow says it shot down two long-range British Storm Shadow missiles launched by Ukraine
The Russian Defense Ministry announced today that it had shot down “two British-made ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles” fired by Ukraine and which were targeting its territory, without specifying the place or time of this interception. British media announced on Wednesday that kyiv had used these long-range missiles for the first time after obtaining authorization from London. So far, neither kyiv nor London have confirmed this information.
Already on Tuesday, Ukraine used for the first time American ATACMS missiles, with a range of 300 km, against a military installation in the Russian region of Bryansk. Some Western countries supplied long-range missiles to Ukraine but did not authorize their use on Russian territory.