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WW3 Watch: Russia Launches First ICBM in Anger Says Kyiv, Strikes Ukrainian City
Russia has allegedly launched an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) at a Ukrainian city for the first time, an expensive but potentially potent reminder by the Kremlin that it has a large reserve of nuclear-capable weapons which can strike form thousands of miles away.
The central-Ukrainian city of Dnipro was struck by a single ICBM missile in the early hours of Thursday morning Ukraine claims, part of a broader air raid that state media said also saw one air-launched ballistic missile and seven air-launched cruise missiles fired at the city. The Ukrainian government has not made an official statement on casualties in the “massive attack” but said they managed to shoot down six of the cruise missiles in-flight.
The launch of an ICBM is claimed by Ukraine’s air force to have come from the Astrakhan Oblast, which borders the Caspian Sea. The launch has not been corroborated by Western states observing the conflict, the United Kingdom has called it unconfirmed, for instance. Russia has yet to confirm or deny an conventional explosive armed but nuclear-capable ICBM launch, apparently the latest sabre-rattling move by the state as it bids to discourage further Western involvement in Ukraine.
While claiming there was “no significant damage” caused, nevertheless Ukraine also stated a city medical facility and an industrial area were hit. Sergiy Lysak, the head of the regional administration said in a statement that: “Since early morning, the aggressor has massively attacked the region. Information about the consequences is being clarified. At the moment, it is known about damage to an industrial enterprise in Dnipro. There were also two fires in the city.”
Ukraine called the attack an attempt to damage the city’s “critical infrastructure” . Meanwhile, just 70 miles away a power interconnector for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was cut in an air strike. This left the plant with just one backup power supply.
A loss of external power can be catastrophic for a nuclear plant because the control systems that govern the reaction process — and which can crash-stop it in an emergency — cannot safely rely on the power the plant itself produces and need redundancy. The Zaporizhzhia plant has been occupied by Russian forces for several years and is presently run by Russian nuclear company Rosatom, one of the few Russian businesses that has been untouched by Western sanctions as Russia is a massive global player in the supply of Uranium, needed by nuclear power plants everywhere.
Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the alleged ICBM launch at time of press. At a morning briefing, top Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov merely said “I have nothing to say on this topic right now”. If true, the strike — the first of its kind in this conflict — comes amid a period of rapidly climbing tensions between Russia and the Western backers of Ukraine.
Alleged launch expensive but potent reminder by Kremlin of large reserve of nuclear-capable weapons which can strike thousands of miles.
www.breitbart.com
