Ukraine Hit by a Russian Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

The Ukrainian Air Force said that the Russians had used an intercontinental ballistic missile to launch an attack on Ukraine. However, in all likehood this was an Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile, though based on an ICBM.

UPDATE 22.11: According to Pentagon, it was not an ICBM, but an experimental Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile, though the design was derived from RS-26, which officially was classified as an ICBM, while some experts prefered to declare RS-26 itself as IRBM due to design & capability specifics.

While intercontinental missiles usually have nuclear warheads, this one had a conventional warhead. The missile made a flight of about 1,000 km, so much less than the standard range of intercontinental missiles.

Earlier, there had been speculation that the Russians would use the conventionally armed RS-26 Rubezh missile in retaliation for Ukraine’s agreement to make longer-range strikes on targets inside Russia using Western-made weapons. Yesterday, HUR and Western intelligence services warned of this attack, resulting in the temporary closure of some countries« embassies in Kyiv.