Russia launched a new type of missile at Ukraine on Thursday, which the Defense Department refers to as a “intermediate-range ballistic missile,” or IRBM, according to the deputy Pentagon press secretary.
Deputy Pentagon press secretary, Sabrina Singh said during a briefing “I can confirm that Russia did launch an experimental intermediate range ballistic missile.
“This IRBM was based on Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile model. In terms of notifications to the United States, the United States was prenotified, briefly, before the launch, through nuclear risk reduction channels.”
The IRBM missile was launched at the city of Dnipro. While Singh said the missile carried a conventional warhead, she also said it’s possible the missile could be fitted with other warheads as well.
“It could be refitted to certainly carry different types of … conventional or nuclear warheads,” she said.
The Defense Department has characterised the IRBM as “experimental” in that it’s the first time a weapon of its kind has been used on the battlefield in Ukraine, Singh said.
“This was a new type of lethal capability that was deployed on the battlefield,” she said. “That’s certainly [of] concern to us … I don’t have an assessment of its impacts right now, but it’s something that, of course, we’re concerned by.”
Singh also said an IRBM and an intercontinental ballistic missile have similar flight paths, high trajectories and can carry large payloads.
“But the main difference lies in the range and the strategic purpose,” she said.
Also, this week, the Defense Department confirmed that the United States would provide to Ukraine antipersonnel landmines.
On Thursday in Laos, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III explained why the U.S. would provide antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine and how what the U.S. would provide is different than the landmines the Ukrainians are currently producing for themselves.
In the face of that changing tactic, Austin said, the Ukrainians have been manufacturing their own landmines to slow down Russian advances.
“They’re fabricating their own antipersonnel landmines right now,” he said.
“The landmines that we would look to provide them would be landmines that are not persistent.
Singh told reporters that the Ukrainians have assured the U.S. that the landmines, when they arrive, will be used only inside Ukrainian space.
