Russia-Ukraine war live: Doubts cast over Kyiv claim that Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missile

Russia has not officially acknowledged the use of an intercontinental ballistic missile, with the country’s defence ministry omitting any reference to it in its daily briefing.

The country’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova appeared to inadvertently reveal some details about the early morning strike during a live press briefing on Thursday.

A hot mic captured Zakharova’s phone conversation with an unidentified caller, who instructed her not to comment “on the ballistic missile strike.” Notably, the caller did not use the word intercontinental.

In the brief telephone exchange – footage of which at present remains available on the foreign ministry’s official account on X – the caller also appears to disclose that the strike targeted the Yuzhmash military facility in Dnipro.

An agreement between the US and Russia, signed in 2000, in theory provides that each side should notify the other at least 24 hours ahead of any planned missile launch in excess of 500km, greater than the distance involved. It is unclear if any such notification was made.

Dan Sabbagh’s report this morning on the Ukrainian claim – dismissed by one western official – that Russia used an ICBM against Dnipro includes this detail about ICBMs and their historical development. He writes:

Russian ICBMs have ranges of more than 6,200 miles, in theory enough to reach the US east coast from Astrakhan, and are capable of being nuclear armed, suggesting that if the use of the weapon is confirmed it was a signal from Moscow.

ICBMs were developed in the 1950s, at the height of the cold war, as a way for the Soviet Union and the US to threaten each other’s populations directly with nuclear weapons. Congressional research estimates that Russia has 326 ICBMs in its nuclear arsenal, but no country had fired one in a war before.

As Associated Press has also noted, the range of an ICBM “would seem excessive for use against Ukraine”. Ukrainian media sources have claimed to identified the type of missile used as a RS-26 Rubezh, with a range of 5,800km. Astrakhan and Dnipro are about 700km apart.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the specific ICBM reports at his daily press briefing, but ABC News has reported that a western official has described the claim as an exaggeration, stating the weapon used was in fact a shorter-range ballistic missile, similar to the types used repeatedly by Russia against Ukraine during the war.

The UK prime minister has reiterated to parliament in London that the country “will back Ukraine with what is needed for as long as it’s needed.”

Keir Starmer told MPs:

We have consistently said we will do what it takes to support Ukraine and put it in the best possible position going into the winter. UK support for Ukraine is always for self defence.

It is proportionate, co-ordinated and agile and a response to Russia’s own actions, and it is in accordance with international law under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Ukraine has a clear right of self defence against Russia’s illegal attacks.

So, I say again, Russia could roll back their forces and end this war tomorrow, but until then, we will stand up for what we know is right, for Ukraine’s security and for our own security, and we will back Ukraine with what is needed for as long as it’s needed.

Starmer said that he was proud of parliament that it had shown unified cross-party support for Ukraine for over 1,000 days of the conflict.

The recently installed leader of the Conservative opposition party, Kemi Badenoch, said:

Ukraine is in a fight for its survival, and the people of Ukraine are in our thoughts daily. But those thoughts must translate into action, action from us and from our allies. We will work with the government to ensure British support for Ukraine is steadfast and continues.

A western official, speaking to ABC News in the US, has denied the Ukrainian claim that an ICBM was used by Russia overnight.

The network reports “It was instead a ballistic missile, which was aimed at Dnipro, in Ukraine’s southeast, the western official said.”

More details soon …

Kremlin spokesperson Dimtry Peskov has said Russia is committed to avoiding nuclear war, but the west has a responsibility not to engage in “provocative actions.”

Tass quotes him, in his daily media briefing, saying:

We have emphasised in the context of our nuclear doctrine that Russia takes a responsible position in terms of making maximum efforts to prevent such a [nuclear] conflict. We expect that other countries will also take the same responsible position and not engage in provocative actions.

Ukraine this week used US and British manufactured longer-range missiles inside Russia for the first time. Earlier this week Vladimir Putin approved a revised Russian nuclear doctrine, which included the provision that if a non-nuclear power attacked Russia with the assistance of a nuclear power, that would meet the threshold for a nuclear response.

EU commissioner ‘concerned’ about security implications of Russian visas

Jennifer Rankin

Jennifer Rankin is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent

The EU’s top official on migration has said she is concerned about the nearly half a million visas that were issued to Russian citizens to visit Europe in 2023.

Ylva Johansson, who is standing down as the EU’s migration and home affairs commissioner at the end of the month, told journalists the guidelines might need to be “a bit sharper”

In 2023 the states in Europe’s border-free Schengen zone issued 448,890 visas to Russian nationals.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU froze a visa-facilitation deal with Moscow that has resulted in a 90% fall in visas issued to Russian nationals, when compared with 2019, before Covid disrupted international travel.

Johansson said the number of visas issued in 2023 was “a significant number [and] that concerns me”. She is worried about potential security threats, in the context of growing reports of sabotage and espionage, such as arson attacks, the posting of incendiary devices and an assassination plot targeting the head of a German defence company.

In 2023, Italy, France, Spain and Greece, countries with large tourism industries, processed more than 80% of visa applications from Russia.

Johansson said she had initiated a review of the Russian visa guidelines, although it would fall to her successor, Magnus Brunner, to make a decision.

Her review, she said, would need to find out whether member states implemented the guidelines in the same way. She suggested changes could be likely: “Does this call for, you know, some revision? That’s my guess. But it’s for my successor to decide, of course, after we have finalised this assessment.”

The Swedish commissioner has also been investigating complaints from EU member states that Hungary is undermining European security, following Budapest’s decision to make it easier for Russians and Belarussians to obtain work permits, which grants them access to the entire Schengen zone.

Hungary, she said, had “clarified” most of the commission’s questions and it seemed “very, very few people” were using this new scheme. But she added: “I still think, for political reasons, it is the wrong signal to send.”