By Phil Stewart and Idris Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States believes Russia fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile in its attack on Ukraine on Thursday, which analysts say could have ramifications for European missile defenses. can be
The US military said the design of the Russian missile is based on the design of Russia’s long-range RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Officials said the new missile was experimental and Russia likely has a few of them.
Ukraine’s air force initially said the missile was an ICBM, raising fears of a major escalation in the 2-1/2-year-old war.
U.S. officials said the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) signaled a low threat, but the incident could still raise alarm bells, and Moscow notified Washington shortly before the launch. gave
The Pentagon said the missile was fired with a conventional warhead, but added that Moscow could modify it if it wanted.
“It can certainly be refitted to carry a variety of conventional or nuclear warheads,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted in a televised address that Moscow had hit a Ukrainian military installation with a new ballistic missile, which he said was named “Oryshnik” (Hazel).
Geoffrey Lewis (JO:), a non-proliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said Putin had previously indicated that Washington and Berlin agreed to deploy long-range U.S. missiles in Germany after Russia agreed. An IRBM will complete system development. 2026.
“RS-26 was always (a) prime candidate,” Lewis said.
Singh said the new form of missile was considered “experimental” by the Pentagon.
“This is the first time we’ve seen it used on the battlefield… so we consider it experimental,” he said.
Timothy Wright at the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Russia’s development of new missiles could influence NATO countries’ decisions about which air defense systems to buy and which offensive capabilities to pursue.
A new US ballistic missile defense base in northern Poland has already drawn an angry reaction from Moscow. The US base at Redzikowo is part of NATO’s wider missile shield and is designed to intercept short- to medium-range ballistic missiles. Still, Putin said Thursday’s launch of the new IRBM was not a response to the base in Poland but instead to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes inside Russian territory with Western weapons.
After approval from President Joe Biden’s administration, Ukraine attacked Russia with US-made ATACMS on November 19 and British Storm Shadow missiles and US-made HIMARS on November 21, Putin said.
Moscow said it targeted a missile and defense firm in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, where the missile and space rocket company Pyudenmash, known to Russians as Yuzmash, is based.
He added that Russia is developing short- and medium-range missiles in preparation for and in response to the United States’ deployment of medium- and short-range missiles in Europe and Asia.
“I believe that the United States made a mistake by unilaterally destroying the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Short-Range Missiles in 2019,” Putin said, referring to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF). of.”) agreement.
The US formally withdrew from the 1987 (INF) treaty with Russia in 2019, saying Moscow was violating the treaty, a charge denied by the Kremlin.
