**Russian Air Strike Hits Ukrainian City**
On Thursday, the city of Dnipro in Ukraine was hit by a Russian air strike. The attack lasted for three hours and included a powerful missile that exploded on impact.
**Russia Denies It Was an ICBM**
The missile’s power caused Ukrainian officials to say it had characteristics similar to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). However, Western officials quickly denied this saying such a strike would have triggered a nuclear alert in the US.
**Putin Announces New Missile**
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia had launched a new conventional intermediate-range missile called Oreshnik. He claimed it travelled at Mach 10, or 2.5-3km per second, and that there were no ways to counteract this weapon.
**Different Versions of the Missile**
There is no clear consensus about what the missile actually is. Ukrainian military intelligence says it’s a new type of ICBM called Kedr that was travelling at Mach 11 and took 15 minutes to arrive from a launch site over 1,000km away in Russia. The location hit was an industrial area southwest of Dnipro city.
**Why Speed Matters**
The speed of the missile is important because it makes interception by surface-to-air missile systems difficult. As a ballistic missile descends towards its target, it gains kinetic energy and can manoeuvre down towards the target, making it hard to stop.
**Range of the Missile**
Experts believe the new missile’s range is likely at the upper end of medium-range missiles, around 2,500-3,000km (1,550-1,860 miles). This could put almost all of Europe within range but not the US.