LONDON — Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile toward Ukraine on Thursday, officials in Kiev said, but a Western official told ABC News that the attack did not appear to be an ICBM.
Instead, it was a ballistic missile aimed at Dnipro, in southeastern Ukraine, the Western official said.
The claim was not immediately confirmed by Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment, saying questions about it should be directed to Russia’s Defense Ministry.
The launch of an ICBM, if confirmed, would come amid concerns that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could further escalate. Ukraine’s military this week fired US-made ATACMS missiles at targets inside Russia for the first time, days after the US president. Joe Biden the use of such long-range weapons is permitted.
Hours after Russia announced that it had shot down some of those ATACMS missiles, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had updated the country’s nuclear doctrine, a move that lowered the threshold for a response with nuclear weapons.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced Thursday morning that it had followed up the launch of the ICBM, along with six additional missiles, all aimed at the Dnipro region. The IKBM appears to have originated from the Astrakhan region in southwestern Russia, according to Ukrainian military officials.
Ukraine said that all the missiles were fired in about two hours, starting at five in the morning. They targeted business and critical infrastructure.
The other six missiles were shot down, Ukraine said. There were no injuries or damage, officials said.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Lauren Minore and Yulia Drozd contributed to this report.
