Two US officials confirmed to Fox News on Thursday that the Russian “intermediate ballistic missile” (IRBM) launched in Ukraine was not hypersonic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed the attack on Thursday evening in his address to the nation and said it was a direct response to the US and the UK jointly authorizing Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles provided by the West to target Russia.
Putin and American sources have confirmed that the strike was not an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but a Kremlin official also said that the weapon used posed a major challenge to the West.
Pentagon Deputy Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed to reporters at a press conference on Thursday that Russia has launched an IRBM based on one of Russia’s ICBM models. He sometimes referred to the IRBM as an “experiment,” explaining that it was the first time the missile had been used on a battlefield.
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The Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is being tested at the Plesetsk launchpad in northwestern Russia. (Russian Defense News Service via AP)
“This was a new type of lethal capability being used on the battlefield, so that’s a real concern for us,” Singh said.
He also said that the US was briefed before the launch of nuclear or risk reduction stations.
Still, Singh told reporters that the Defense Department has seen no change in Russia’s nuclear stance, and the US has yet to make any changes to its own.
Putin said, according to the translation, that the missile hit the targets at a speed of Mach 10.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the Moscow-appointed head of Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
“That’s 2.5 miles per second,” Putin said. “The country’s current air defense and missile defense systems built by the Americans in Europe do not deter such missiles.”
Despite Putin’s claim, two US defense officials told Fox News that the missile was not hypersonic, which, according to NASA, is a speed greater than 3,000 mph and faster than Mach 5.
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Singh told reporters that the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine was that the war invaded the independent border country and turned to North Korea to bring about 11,000 troops to fight against Ukraine.
After the reversal of President Biden’s position this week for Ukraine to use Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) provided by the US against Russia, Kyiv immediately fined the military weapons in the Russian region of Bryansk, more than 70 miles away. Ukrainian border.
Ukrainian soldiers are training in Zaporizhzhia region. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine’s 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
While Ukraine’s military has officially fired the ballistic missiles, the missile system still relies on American satellites to reach its target, an issue Putin touched on in an unannounced speech Thursday.
“We are evaluating Oreshnik missile systems in combat situations due to the aggressive actions of NATO countries against Russia. We will further determine the deployment of medium-range and short-range missiles depending on the actions of the US and its satellites,” he said.
Putin said Russia would notify Ukrainian citizens of future attacks like the one it carried out on Thursday, although it was not clear whether he had issued a warning to Ukrainians living in Dnipro.
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A Kremlin official said “defense industry” was the target, although images released by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry show what appears to be civilian infrastructure caught up in the conflict.
Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
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