This is the first time in the history of military nuclear power. On Wednesday, November 21, the Russians fired, in a theater of war, a medium-range ballistic missile (IRBM) originally designed exclusively to carry a nuclear warhead. A new missile called “Oreshnik”, according to Moscow. Until now this type of weapon had only been tested in trials.
The Russian missile hit a factory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro. According to kyiv, it was fired from the shores of the Caspian Sea, 1,000 kilometers away. It would have caused two injuries. A shot justified, according to the Kremlin, by the fact that Ukraine used several American long-range missiles (ATACMS) to attack an ammunition depot on its territory, a day after Washington authorized this use.
According to the Pentagon, the Russian missile that fell on Dnipro is classified in the category of IRBM with a range of 3,000 km to 5,500 km, and not in the category of intercontinental missiles (ICBM in the jargon), as experts may have initially believed. . during the day on Thursday. It was not loaded – hence the absence of an explosion on the ground – but with such a shot the Russians took a step in the escalation with the Westerners.
Given the significant risks of misunderstandings and, therefore, retaliation and nuclear escalation, Russia indicated that it had warned the United States of its launch. “The alert was sent automatically thirty minutes before launch”Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. “The United States received brief advance notice before launch through nuclear risk reduction channels”Deputy Pentagon Spokesperson Sabrina Singh confirmed to the press.
A surprise for Westerners
According to the ABC News television channel, citing an official source, the United States had informed Ukraine and its allies in recent days of the possible use of such a weapon by Russia, in order to help them prepare. According to this official, Moscow probably only has ” drive “ of these experimental missiles. This source also confirmed that the machine belonged to the category of “MIRV” (For Multiple independently selectable reentry vehicles), that is, missiles equipped with several warheads that allow several targets to be hit simultaneously.
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