Tensions heightened over Moscow’s war on Ukraine Thursday, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying it targeted the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a new intermediate-range missile in response to the United States and Britain sending Kyiv its longer-range missiles for use against Russia.

Ukraine had claimed Russian forces targeted it with an intercontinental ballistic missile, but U.S. officials said their assessment was that it was an intermediate-range missile, which, hours later, Putin acknowledged.

Putin warned during a nationwide address that Russia could use the weapon, which has a range of 800 kilometers, against countries that have allowed Kyiv to use their missiles to strike Russia.

He said Russia would issue advance warning if it launched more strikes with the intermediate-range missiles to allow civilians time to evacuate safely. He claimed that U.S. air defense systems would not be capable of intercepting the new missiles.

The Ukrainian air force said the missile was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region and was part of a wider set of attacks that included a hypersonic missile and seven cruise missiles.

Ukrainian officials reported that the missile attacks wounded two people and damaged an industrial site in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Regional Governor Serhiy Lysak said the attacks hit the city of Dnipro and caused several fires.

A U.S. official said the United States briefed Ukraine and close allies in recent days to help them prepare for the possible use of an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile that was used in Thursday’s attack.

At the Pentagon, Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed Russia’s launch of an experimental intermediate range ballistic missile.

“The United States was prenotified briefly before the launch through Nuclear Risk Reduction channels,” she told reporters Thursday.

Russia likely possesses only a handful of the experimental intermediate-range ballistic missiles, the official said.

When asked by reporters Thursday about a potential escalation in the conflict, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pointed to North Korean troops fighting for Russia against Ukraine.

“When you are thinking about bringing in thousands of troops to the front lines to add to the war, right — these are North Korean troops, as you know — that is the aggression from Russia’s part. That’s their aggression,” Jean-Pierre said. “We are going to continue to be there for Ukraine.”

Elsewhere, Volodymyr Artiukh, governor of Ukraine’s Sumy region, said on Telegram that Russian forces shelled areas along the border between the two countries and attacked with an aerial drone.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses destroyed two Ukrainian drones over the Rostov region and two drones over Volgograd. It also said it also shot down two British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

Yuri Slyusar, the acting governor of Rostov, said on Telegram there were no casualties and no damage as a result of the Ukrainian attack.

U.S. mines

The U.S. is planning to send Ukraine antipersonnel land mines to help Kyiv’s forces fend off the advance of Russian ground troops, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday.

The decision is the second U.S. policy reversal in recent days after President Joe Biden, in the last two months of his White House tenure, switched his stance and said Ukraine is now free to launch Washington-supplied, long-range missiles deeper into Russia.

Ukraine quickly targeted munitions warehouses with its first attack on Tuesday.

Austin, speaking to reporters traveling with him on a trip to Laos, said allowing the shipment of the U.S. land mines to Ukraine became necessary because of changing battlefield tactics by Moscow’s forces.

He said Russian ground troops are leading the movement on the battlefield, rather than forces protected by armored carriers, so Ukraine has “a need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians.”

Russia has captured more territory in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks.

Austin said the land mines that the U.S. will provide can be controlled for self-activation and self-detonation.

Russia, like the United States, did not sign the United Nations convention on the prohibition of anti-personnel mines, but Ukraine had, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted on Wednesday.

Russia has deployed at least 13 types of land mines in Ukraine, according to Human Rights Watch, and uses them extensively in territory it has captured from Ukraine, according to The Washington Post.

The U.S. on Wednesday also said it is sending another $275 million package of munitions to Kyiv, including arms for rocket systems, artillery and antitank weapons. It is the 70th such shipment since August 2021.

The changing policies and additional arms supply appear to be an effort by Biden and his defense team to shore up Ukraine’s war effort before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office January 20.

Trump has been a skeptic of continuing U.S. support for Ukraine, claiming he will have the war ended before he even takes office but not offering any details on how he would do so.

VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report. Some information was provided by Reuters.

Source: voanews.com