Russia strikes Ukraine with hypersonic missile

CCTV footage captured multiple bright flashes raining down from the sky in Ukraine's Dnipro, after Russia said it had fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at the city.

Kyiv said that Russia had fired an ICBM, a weapon designed for long-distance nuclear strikes and never before used in war, though US officials said it was an intermediate range ballistic missile that has a smaller range.

Ukraine fired US and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week despite warnings by Moscow that it would see such action as a major escalation.

Russia claimed that it had taken control of another settlement in Donetsk, while Ukraine reported on the same day that it had repelled Russian attempts to break through defenses.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a routine bulletin that the Russian army had taken control of a settlement in Donetsk and launched multiple attacks on Ukrainian tanks, electronic warfare base stations, ammunition depots and other military targets.

In a televised address, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had launched a medium-range ballistic missile attack on a Ukrainian military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons.

“In combat conditions one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was also tested. In this case, with a ballistic missile in non-nuclear hypersonic equipment."

Russian air defense systems intercepted targets including British-made Storm Shadow missiles, rockets from the US-developed HIMARS rocket launchers, and drones, according to the defense ministry.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in an online statement, the Ukrainian army engaged in fire exchanges with Russian forces on the front line more than 100 times, notably in the direction of Kurakhove and Pokrovsk.

The Ukrainian side reported it had repelled several Russian attacks and prevented the Russians from breaking through the defense line.