New Delhi: In a recent press conference, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova reportedly received a phone call from senior authorities instructing her not to comment on Moscow’s alleged launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) during a strike on Ukraine.
A purported video of the incident, which has since gone viral, appears to capture Zakharova mid-conference as she listens to the instructions. According to reports, the caller explicitly told her to avoid discussing the missile strike, allegedly saying, “Masha, don’t comment at all on the ballistic missile strike on Yuzhmash, as the Westerners started talking about it.”
Ukraine claimed Thursday that Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile overnight at a city. If confirmed, it would be the first time Moscow has used such a weapon in the war. Ukraine did not provide any evidence that an ICBM was used in the attack on the central city of Dnipro, apparently armed with conventional warheads.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a missile used “matches the speed and altitude” of an ICBM. The Kremlin refused to comment on the strike.
The attack comes in a week when tensions have repeatedly soared, as the U.S. eased restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American-made longer-range missiles inside Russia and the Kremlin lowered its threshold for launching nuclear weapons.
The range of an ICBM — which can exceed 5,500 kilometres (3,400 miles) — is beyond what is needed to attack Ukraine. But such missiles are designed to carry atomic warheads, and the use of one, even with a conventional payload, would serve as a chilling reminder of Russia’s nuclear capability and a powerful message of potential escalation.
In a statement Thursday on the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s Air Force said an intercontinental ballistic missile was fired at Dnipro, along with eight other missiles, and that the Ukrainian military shot down six of them.
Two people were wounded in the attack, and an industrial facility and a rehabilitation centre for people with disabilities were damaged, according to local officials.
The Air Force statement did not specify the exact type of ICBM but said it was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region, on the Caspian Sea.
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