The move comes after U.S. President Joe Biden reversed his long-standing position and authorized Kyiv’s use of American-supplied long-range missiles to strike targets within Russia last weekend, prompting Ukraine to use U.S.-manufactured Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, to strike Russia’s Bryansk region on Tuesday. Ukraine also reportedly fired British Storm Shadow missiles at targets inside Russia this week. Biden also reversed his position on giving Ukraine anti-personnel landmines.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh confirmed that Russia launched the experimental missile, saying during a press conference on Thursday that the “new type of lethal capability” is “of concern” to the U.S. Singh also said Russia notified the U.S. shortly before the attack.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had accused Moscow of firing an intercontinental ballistic missile into Ukraine, writing on social media that the move was a “clear and severe escalation in the scale and brutality of this war,” and noting that the missile use was yet another Russian escalation, after it deployed thousands of North Korean troops to serve alongside its own in its war against Ukraine.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy said Thursday that Russia’s decision to deploy the missile was a sign of “how terrified” Moscow is of Ukraine.
