The US intelligence believes that the Russian Federation may again use its new medium-range ballistic missile against Ukraine in the coming days.
This is reported by the Associated Press, citing an anonymous official.
The interlocutor of the publication noted that the US government considers "Kedr" more as an attempt to intimidate the population than a weapon capable of changing the course of the war. The Kremlin has only a few such experimental missiles. They have a smaller warhead than other missiles launched over Ukraine, the official said.
In the United States, it is believed that the weapon was created on the basis of the Russian model of the intercontinental ballistic missile RS-26 "Rubizh". Its declared characteristics are a maximum flight range of 6 000 kilometers.
During the times of the USSR, Washington and Moscow concluded an agreement on the elimination of short- and medium-range missiles. The document expired in 2019. The UN Secretary General António Guterres then declared that the world would lose an "invaluable safeguard against nuclear war" with this agreement.
What preceded
On the morning of November 21, the Russians attacked Dnipro. A rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, a boiler house, an enterprise and private houses were destroyed. Two people are injured.
The Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that the Russians hit the city with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), as well as an Kh-47M2 “Kinzhal” aeroballistic missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles. The Air Force believes that the ICBM was launched from the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation, the Air Force did not provide any other details.
President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to the strike on Dnipro and stated that all the characteristics — speed, altitude — of an intercontinental ballistic missile. However, the examination is still ongoing.
The US Ministry of Defense confirmed that Russia hit Ukraine with an experimental medium-range ballistic missile, which was created on the basis of the RS-26 "Rubizh" intercontinental ballistic missile.
Meanwhile, in an address to the Russians, Putin said that the Russian Federation struck the Dnipro with an alleged "newest medium-range system" called "Oreshnik", namely a ballistic missile with non-nuclear hypersonic equipment.
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