Russian President Vladimir Putin records a televised address in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday (November 21, 2024).
| Photo Credit: AP

“The Kremlin fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday (November 21, 2024) in response to Kyiv’s use this week of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russia,” President Vladimir Putin said.

In a televised address to the country, the Russian President warned that U.S. air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, which he said flies at ten times the speed of sound and which he called the Oreshnik — Russian for hazelnut tree. He also said it could be used to attack any Ukrainian ally whose missiles are used to attack Russia.

“We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against the military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” Mr. Putin said in his first comments since President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light this month to use U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike at limited targets inside Russia.

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that Russia’s missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate range missile based on it’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.

“This was a new type of lethal capability that was deployed on the battlefield, so that was certainly of concern,” Ms. Singh said, noting that the missile could carry either conventional or nuclear warheads. “The U.S. was notified ahead of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels,” she said.

“The attack on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro came in response to Kyiv’s use of longer-range U.S. and British missiles in strikes Tuesday and Wednesday on southern Russia,” Mr. Putin said. “Those strikes caused a fire at an ammunition depot in Russia’s Bryansk region and killed and wounded some security services personnel in the Kursk region,” he said.

“In the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond decisively and in kind,” the Russian President said, adding that Western leaders who are hatching plans to use their forces against Moscow should “seriously think about this.”

Mr. Putin said the Oreshnik fired Thursday struck a well-known missile factory in Dnipro. He also said Russia would issue advance warnings if it launches more strikes with the Oreshnik against Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate to safety — something Moscow hasn’t done before previous aerial attacks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov initially said Russia hadn’t warned the U.S. about the coming launch of the new missile, noting that it wasn’t obligated to do so. But he later changed tack and said Moscow did issue a warning 30 minutes before the launch.

Mr. Putin’s announcement came hours after Ukraine claimed that Russia had used an intercontinental ballistic missile in the Dnipro attack, which wounded two people and damaged an industrial facility and rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, according to local officials. But American officials said an initial U.S. assessment indicated the strike was carried out with an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

The ICBM attack on Ukraine comes two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine that formally lowers the threshold for the country’s use of nuclear weapons. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Ukraine says Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile overnight targeting Dnipro city in the central-east of the country, which, if confirmed, would be the first time Moscow has used such a missile in the war.

In a statement Thursday (November 21, 2024) on the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s air force did not specify the exact type of missile, but said it was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region, which borders the Caspian Sea.

It said an intercontinental ballistic missile was fired at Dnipro city along with eight other missiles, and that the Ukrainian military shot down six of them.

EDITORIAL | ​Mad doctrine: On Russia’s revision of its nuclear doctrine

Two people were wounded as a result of the attack, and an industrial facility and a rehabilitation center for people with disabilities were damaged, according to local officials.

While the range of an ICBM would seem excessive for use against Ukraine, such missiles are designed to carry nuclear warheads, and the use of one would serve as a chilling reminder of Russia’s nuclear capability and a powerful message of potential escalation.

Revised nuclear doctrine

The attack comes two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine that formally lowers the threshold for the country’s use of nuclear weapons. Ukraine on Tuesday fired several American-supplied longer-range missiles and reportedly fired U.K.-made Storm Shadows on Wednesday into Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday that its air defence systems shot down two British-made Storm Shadow missiles, six HIMARS rockets, and 67 drones. The announcement came in the ministry’s daily roundup regarding the military actions in Ukraine.

The statement didn’t say when or where exactly it happened or what the missiles were targeting. This is not Moscow’s first public announcement of the shooting down of Storm Shadow missiles, as Russia earlier reported downing some over the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

International dimension

The developments come as the war has taken on a growing international dimension with the arrival of North Korean troops to help Russia on the battlefield — a development that U.S. officials said prompted U.S. President Joe Biden’s policy shift on allowing Ukraine to fire longer-range U.S. missiles into Russia. The Kremlin responded with threats to escalate further.

Mr. Putin has previously warned the U.S. and other NATO allies that allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied longer-range weapons to hit Russian territory would mean that Russia and NATO are at war.

And the new doctrine allows for a potential nuclear response by Moscow even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power.

While the doctrine envisions a possible nuclear response by Russia to a conventional strike, it is formulated broadly to avoid a firm commitment to use nuclear weapons and keep Putin’s options open.

North Korea launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday (October 31, 2024) in its first test in almost a year of a weapon designed to threaten the U.S. mainland and occurring days ahead of the U.S. election.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the missile test and was at the launch site, calling the launch “an appropriate military action” to show North Korea’s resolve to respond to its enemies’ moves that has threatened the North’s safety, according to its Defense Ministry.

The United States, South Korea and Japan had also identified the weapon as an ICBM and condemned the launch as raising tensions. The launch came as Washington warned that North Korean troops in Russian uniforms are heading toward Ukraine, likely to augment Russian forces and join the war.

North Korea confirmed the launch hours after its neighbors detected the firing of what they suspected was a new, more agile weapon targeting the mainland U.S. The statement was unusually quick since North Korea usually describes its weapons tests a day after they occur.

South Korea and Japan condemned the North Korean launch

“I affirm that the DPRK will never change its line of bolstering up its nuclear forces,” Mr. Kim said, according to a North Korean Defense Ministry statement carried by state media. DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea could have tested a new, solid-fueled long-range ballistic missile. Missiles with built-in solid propellants are easier to move and hide and can be launched quicker than liquid-propellant weapons.

JCS spokesperson Lee Sung Joon said the launch was possibly timed to the U.S. election in an attempt to strengthen North Korea’s future bargaining power. He said the North Korean missile was launched on a high angle, apparently to avoid neighboring countries.

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters the missile’s flight duration of 86 minutes and its maximum altitude of more than 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) exceeded corresponding data from previous North Korean missile tests. Lee, the South Korean military spokesperson, said South Korea has a similar assessment on Thursday’s launch.

KCNA said the flight characteristics of this launch exceeded those registered for its previous missile launches but did not detail the differences.

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett had called the launch “a flagrant violation” of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that “needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region.” Mr. Savett said the U.S. will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and its South Korean and Japanese allies.

Both South Korea and Japan condemned the North Korean launch for posing a threat to international peace and they said they’re closely coordinating with the U.S. over the latest North Korean weapons test. Lee said that South Korea and the U.S. plan “sufficient” bilateral military exercises and trilateral ones involving Japan in response to North Korean threats.

Lee said the missile may have been fired from a 12-axle launch vehicle, the North’s largest mobile launch platform that it disclosed in September. The vehicle’s unveiling had prompted speculation North Korea could be developing an ICBM that is bigger than its existing ones.

North Korea has made strides in its missile technologies in recent years, but many foreign experts believe the country has yet to acquire a functioning nuclear-armed missile that can strike the U.S. mainland. They say North Korea likely possesses short-range missiles that can deliver nuclear strikes across all of South Korea.

One of the technological hurdles North Korea still faces is for its weapons to be capable of surviving the harsh conditions of atmospheric reentry. South Korean officials and experts earlier said North Korea may test-launch a ICBM on a normal angle to verify that capability.

Lee said a high-angle launch like Thursday’s test cannot examine a missile’s reentry vehicle technology. He said that more analysis is required to find why North Korea didn’t conduct a standard-trajectory launch on Thursday.

North Korea’s possible participation in the Ukraine war

In the past two years, Mr. Kim has used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a window to ramp up weapons tests and threats while also expanding military cooperation with Moscow. South Korea, the U.S. and others have recently accused North Korea of dispatching thousands of troops to support Russia’s warfighting against Ukraine. They’ve said North Korea has already shipped artillery, missiles and other convectional arms to Russia.

North Korea’s possible participation in the Ukraine war would mark a serious escalation. South Korea, the U.S. and their partners also worry about what North Korea could get from Russia in return for joining Russia’s war against Ukraine. Aside from his soldiers’ wages, experts say Kim Jong Un likely hopes to get high-tech Russian technology that can perfect his nuclear-capable missiles and build a reliable space-based surveillance system. Kim could also want Russian fighter jets and help to modernize North Korea’s conventional weapons.

On Wednesday (October 30, 2024), Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said North Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment are moving toward Ukraine, in what he called a dangerous and destabilizing development. Mr. Austin said “the likelihood is pretty high” that Russia will use the troops in combat.

Mr. Austin spoke at a news conference in Washington with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol last week raised the possibility of supplying Ukraine with weapons while stressing that his government “won’t sit idle” over North Korea’s reported troop dispatch.

South Korea said on Wednesday (October 30, 2024) that North Korea has sent more than 11,000 troops to Russia and that more than 3,000 of them have been moved close to battlefields in western Russia.

The RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) of Russia, commonly known as “Satan II” in Western media and once described as invincible by President Vladimir Putin, has been deployed for combat duty, the head of the state space agency Roscosmos said Friday.

“The Sarmat strategic missile system has entered active duty,” Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov said.

According to Sputnik News, “The RS-28 Sarmat is Russia’s next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that is set to become the backbone of the country’s silo-based strategic deterrent. With its impressive range and destructive power, the Sarmat is considered one of the deadliest nuclear missiles in the world.”

As per the Moscow Times, the RS-28 Sarmat dubbed Satan 2 by Western analysts, is among Russia’s next-generation missiles unveiled by Putin in 2018, which also include the Kinzhal and Avangard hypersonic missiles.

Weighing in at more than 200 tonnes and able to transport multiple warheads, Sarmat is designed to elude anti-missile defence systems with a short initial boost phase, giving enemy surveillance systems a narrow window to track it down.

According to The Independent earlier this year, Russian defence committee deputy chairman Aleksey Zhuravlyov used it as a threat when he was interviewed by state broadcaster TV Russia 1 in May regarding Sweden and Finland’s aspirations towards joining NATO in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland joined the alliance earlier this year, while Sweden is still waiting to be ratified. Mr Zhuravlyov claimed that Moscow could unleash Satan II to strike back at those nations and at the UK and US, which the Putin regime regards as the key organising forces behind Nato.

Who coined the name ‘Satan II’?

The Sputnik News reported that while NATO designates the Sarmat missile as the ‘SS-X-29’ or ‘SS-X-30’, Western media has often referred to it as ‘Satan II’. This name is derived from the NATO reporting name ‘SS-18 Satan’, which was used for the R-36M missile system that the Sarmat is set to replace. The ‘Satan II’ moniker plays on the terrifying associations of evil and suffering, capturing the attention of the media and the public.