'New' Russian missile used against Ukraine not hypersonic, defense officials say

Two U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News Thursday that a Russian "experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile" (IRBM) launched astatine Ukraine was not hypersonic.

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed the onslaught Thursday evening successful an code to the federation and said it was successful nonstop effect to the U.S. and the U.K. jointly approving Ukraine’s usage of Western-supplied long-range missiles to people Russia.

Putin and U.S. sources person since confirmed the onslaught was not an intercontinental ballistic rocket (ICBM), but the Kremlin main besides claimed the limb utilized poses a important situation for Western nations.

Deputy Pentagon property secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed to reporters during a property briefing Thursday that Russia had launched an IRBM based connected 1 of Russia’s ICBM models. She sometimes called the IRBM "experimental," explaining it was the archetypal clip the rocket had been utilized connected the battlefield.

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A Yars intercontinental ballistic rocket is trial fired from the Plesetsk launchpad successful northwestern Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

"This was a caller benignant of lethal capableness that was employed connected the battlefield, truthful that’s surely a interest to us," Singh said.

She besides said the U.S. was notified concisely earlier the motorboat done atomic oregon hazard simplification channels.

Still, Singh told reporters the Department of Defense has not seen immoderate accommodation successful Russia’s atomic posture, nor has the U.S. made immoderate changes to its own.

Putin said, according to a translation, that the rocket attacked targets astatine a velocity of Mach 10.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the Moscow-appointed caput of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia portion of Ukraine, Yevgeny Balitsky, during a gathering astatine the Kremlin successful Moscow. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

"That’s 2.5 miles per second," Putin said. "The world’s existent aerial defence systems and the rocket defence systems developed by the Americans successful Europe bash not intercept specified missiles."

Despite Putin’s claim, 2 U.S. defence officials told Fox News the rocket was not hypersonic, which, according to NASA, is simply a velocity greater than 3,000 mph and faster than Mach 5.

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Singh told reporters the lone escalation successful the warfare betwixt Russia and Ukraine is that the erstwhile invaded a sovereign borderline state and turned to North Korea to bring astir 11,000 soldiers to fight against Ukraine.

Following President Biden’s presumption reversal this week to let Ukraine to usage U.S.-supplied long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) against the Russian homeland, Kyiv instantly levied strikes against a subject arsenal successful the Russian portion of Bryansk, much than 70 miles from Ukraine’s border. 

Ukrainian soldiers bid successful the Zaporizhzhia region. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

While Ukrainian troops officially fired the blase missiles, the weapons strategy inactive relies connected U.S. satellites to deed its target, an contented Putin touched connected successful his unannounced code Thursday. 

"We are investigating the Oreshnik rocket systems successful combat conditions successful effect to NATO countries' assertive actions against Russia. We volition determine connected the further deployment of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles depending connected the actions of the U.S. and its satellites," helium said.

Putin claimed Russia volition alert Ukrainian citizens of an impending onslaught similar the onslaught helium carried retired connected Thursday, though it remains unclear if helium issued a informing to the Ukrainians surviving successful Dnipro. 

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The Kremlin main said the "defense industry" was targeted, though images released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense showed what appeared to beryllium civilian infrastructure caught successful the fray. 

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.