VLADIMIR Putin has warned he could strike Britain and US military facilities after Ukraine used ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles inside Russian territory.
The dictator revealed Ukraine was today blasted with a new kind of ballistic missile that hurtled down from the edge of space in a “depraved” act of nuclear brinksmanship.
Putin dropped his most direct threat yet against the West while giving a televised address today
In a televised address today, Putin said: “Russia considers itself entitled to use weapons against military facilities of countries that permit the use of their weapons against Russia.
“Since this moment, as we have underscored repeatedly, the conflict in Ukraine, provoked by the West, has acquired elements of global nature.”
Kyiv today claimed that Ukraine was hit with what was thought to be the first use of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the war as part of Russia’s revenge blitz.
Video showed rockets raining down on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro – reportedly six different warheads from a nuclear-capable Russian R-26 Rubezh ICBM.
However, in the same address, he announced the Russian forces instead tested a new intermediate-range missile (IRBM) in a strike on Ukraine.
He warned that it could use the weapon against countries that have allowed Kyiv to use its missiles to strike Russia.
Zelensky said the “new Russian missile” reached the speed and heights of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Intercontinental missiles have a range of over 5,500km and were designed for nuclear war.
They blast into the edge of space and can reach speeds of 13,000mph before hurtling almost down to their targets.
Britain’s defence secretary John Healey said Russia had been planning the strike “for months”.
Russia refused to comment on the type of missile used.
In a bizarre moment captured on camera, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was told halfway through a press briefing not to comment on the suspected ICBM strike.
She could be seen answering a call in the middle of the televised conference.
The conversation was overheard via her mic – with a presumably senior diplomat saying: “Masha [Maria], ballistic missile strikes on Yuzhmash [defence plant in Dnipro].
“The Westerners are talking about it now. Don’t comment at all.”
The strike was part of a nine-missile blitz on the central city of Dnipro in the early hours of Thursday.
Ukraine’s Air Force said an ICBM was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region around 1000km from Dnipro.
Ukrainian media claimed the missile was an RS-26 Rubezh missile with a range 5,800km.
If it is confirmed it would be the first time an ICBM has ever been fired in anger.
Western officials confirmed that a ballistic missile was used but they cautioned that its range was short of ICBM threshold.
The Rubezh is 12m long, weighs 36 tonnes and is launched from a 16-wheel vehicle.
It can carry an 800kg nuclear warhead and reach every country in the northern hemisphere from launch sites on Russian soil.
The strike came a day after America shut its embassies in Kyiv over fears of a “significant missile strike”.
Britain kept its embassy open.
Ukraine used the ATACMS rockets to hit a military depot in Bryansk – marking a major development on day 1000 of the brutal war.
Footage last night revealed the moment Ukraine reportedly fired Storm Shadow rockets inside Russia for the first time.
Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, claimed the use of Storm Shadow missiles against a military site in Russia meant Britain “is now directly involved in this war”.
Moscow has made similar claims in the past over Western support for Ukraine.
On Tuesday President Putin signed a new nuclear doctrine to lower the threshold for doomsday strikes.
The policy, months in the making, lets Russia unleash a nuclear first strike if it is attacked by a country backed by a nuclear power.
Unconfirmed footage showed multiple blasts over Dnipro consistent with a type of warhead known as a multiple independent reentry vehicle or MIRV.
MIRVs were designed in the 1960s to let one nuclear missile carry several doomsday warheads.
Russia claimed the strikes targeted a Ukrainian missile factory.