Global early warning systems were triggered Wednesday night after Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that struck the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to reports.
Video footage circulating online suggests that the attack involved a ballistic missile carrying a conventional payload, potentially equipped with a MIRV (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle). Analysis highlighted the missile’s trajectory and impact as consistent with an ICBM strike, which initially caused alarm given the immediate assumption such launches are nuclear.
Footage from last night’s Russian Ballistic Missile Attack on the City of Dnipro, shows that the Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry-Vehicle (MIRV) used, equipped to either an Intermediate-Range or Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, contained at least 6… pic.twitter.com/BcH1B2l88t
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 21, 2024
Launched from Astrakhan, near the Caspian Sea, the missile traveled approximately 1,000 kilometers. While ICBMs are designed for long-range nuclear strikes exceeding 10,000 kilometers (such as the Russian RS-28 Sarmat and the U.S. Minuteman III, which are capable of targeting virtually any location on Earth within their range), this shorter-range use marks an unusual deployment of an advanced and costly weapon system for a conventional strike.
Extraordinary Deployment Raises Questions
Military experts emphasized the unusual nature of using an ICBM for a non-nuclear strike, citing its high cost and complexity. Observers believe the attack was intended to achieve multiple objectives:
Psychological warfare: The missile’s launch likely caused widespread alarm in Ukraine and the West. In the critical moments between detection and impact, officials might have feared a nuclear strike.
Testing Western resolve: Analysts speculate the Kremlin may have sought to gauge the U.S. response to such an unprecedented escalation. As of this article’s publication, no official response has been issued by the Biden administration.
Showcasing military capability: The strike, reportedly targeting a key defense facility—potentially Yuzhmash, a major missile production plant—demonstrated the potency of Russia’s strategic arsenal, even without a nuclear payload.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the recent escalations in the Russo-Ukrainian War as the beginning of a “new phase” in the conflict.
“We will be taking this as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia. And we will react accordingly,” Lavrov stated, signaling a potential intensification of Russia’s military posture.
Lavrov’s comments came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree amending its nuclear doctrine to consider any non-nuclear state attack supported by a nuclear power as a joint assault on Russia.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration made the controversial decision to permit Ukraine to use anti-personnel landmines in its defense strategy. The move diverges from the spirit of the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, which seeks to eliminate the use of such mines worldwide.
The U.S. Embassy confirmed Wednesday morning that it had “received specific information” about a possible significant air attack but did not provide further details. The announcement followed a high-profile Ukrainian strike on a Russian ammunition depot in the Bryansk region using six U.S.-supplied ATACMS ballistic missiles.
Embassy staff were instructed to shelter in place, and U.S. citizens in Kyiv were advised to be prepared to seek shelter if an air alert is announced.
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Remove the DNC Ukrainian insurrectionists and calm Putin.
Please.
Popcorn is on the American Patriots.
Nikki Haley is an idiot. She is also a consummate bureacrat so that says it all. She wants the status quo to continue. Thank you all who voted in Trump that this moron was not elected and is not in charge. This bunch that she supports is responsible for the escalation in the middle east. They are doing as much damage as possible before Trump and his picks take charge. The actors doing this should be dug out of their holes and charged, trialed and punished! And the cleaning out of the government agencies should start immediately. Pull the power to act out of their grasps immediately. Sadly the incoming people will also have to defuse the mess thay are creating now!
Empty warning, Putin has no real intentions to start a nuclear war where there will be only losers left, and no clear winner.
True, but Russia in the far North will make a nice “wasteland” for the next few thousand years!
Get the DNC out of The Ukraine and maybe Putin will calm down.
Putin is really adept at murdering Ukrainian civilians with his weapons, but alas his armed forces aren’t very adept at fighting against the Ukrainian Armed Forces! Seems that his “Two Week War” has continued past the time of when he should have been replaced!