Could Russia begin frequent attacks on Ukraine with intercontinental ballistic missiles? Expert's opinion
Illustrative photo: Russia attacked Ukraine with an intercontinental missile (kremlin.ru)
Russia has dozens of intercontinental ballistic missiles, while other types number in the hundreds. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Russian army will start frequently attacking Ukraine with such weapons, states aviation expert Valerii Romanenko in a comment to the RBC-Ukraine YouTube channel.
"I don't think Russia will 'terrorize' with them, because while they have hundreds of other missiles, they only have dozens of intercontinental ones. The cost of such a missile is just astronomical — at least 50 million per missile. And the amount of explosives it can carry is no more than what three Iskanders combined could carry," said Romanenko.
In his opinion, the only purpose of Russia using intercontinental missiles is psychological pressure on Ukrainians.
"For example, Russia has only a few RS-26 missiles, up to three dozen Yars missiles, and not hundreds of Topol missiles either. Moreover, these are missiles that need to be removed from combat duty, have their nuclear warheads removed, and launched. As reports from Dnipro state, there was a missile strike without any explosives at all. So, this could be an information-psychological operation, a method of psychological pressure," the expert noted.
Romanenko also commented on media reports claiming that Russia allegedly gathered an arsenal of 521 intercontinental ballistic missiles over the past 20 years.
"Perhaps they are also talking about missiles from submarines. Well, there are no submarines in the Caspian. These missiles need to be divided. Because they are on the Pacific Fleet, which, although they can fly here, it's just idiotic. If we consider fleet missiles, then such a number may be possible for the Russians," he said.
However, the expert noted that when the Russian forces have a huge number of conventional short-range operational-tactical missiles, there is no point for them in firing ballistic ones.
"I don’t understand why. To increase the number or to show that we can’t hit them. Yes, we don’t have systems capable of striking them, we are indeed defenseless against them. But things are changing, you know. If this situation is developing, maybe the Americans will give us a THAAD system," Romanenko added.
Russia attacked Ukraine with an intercontinental ballistic missile
On the morning of November 21, Russia launched a missile strike on the city of Dnipro, using various types of weaponry.
In particular, an intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Astrakhan region. This is the first time the Russian army has used this type of weapon.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Russia is making efforts to expand the war. An investigation is currently underway to accurately determine the type of missile used in the morning attack on Dnipro.
EU spokesperson Peter Stano, commenting on the strike, stated that dictator Vladimir Putin is once again betting on a nuclear game with the recently updated nuclear doctrine.
What is known about the Russian intercontinental ballistic missile strike and how it is being responded to in Ukraine and around the world is covered in this RBC-Ukraine report.
