Ukraine says Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile ...

Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile during an attack on Ukraine on Thursday, Kyiv's air force has said.

"An intercontinental ballistic missile  (ICBM) was launched from the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation," it said, without specifying what kind of ICBM was fired.

If true, it is the first known use in the war of such a powerful, nuclear-capable weapon with a range of thousands of kilometres.

A source in the Ukrainian air force confirmed to AFP it was the first time such a weapon had been used since Russia invaded in February 2022.

But the source added it was "obvious" that the missile, which is designed to carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, did not carry a nuclear charge.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was using Ukraine as a weapons-testing ground.

"All the characteristics — speed, altitude – corresponds to an intercontinental ballistic missile. Expert examinations are underway," he said.

"It is obvious that Putin is using Ukraine as a testing ground."

Two people were hurt in the missile attack, a local official confirmed. (Reuters: Mykola Synelnykov)

However, the Kremlin refused on Thursday to comment on Ukrainian allegations that Moscow had launched an ICBM at Ukraine for the first time.

Asked whether Moscow fired the missile, which is designed to carry both conventional and nuclear warheads and can hit targets thousands of kilometres away, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had "nothing to say on this topic."

The NATO military alliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"If true this will be totally unprecedented and the first actual military use of ICBM. Not that it makes a lot of sense given their price and precision," Andrey Baklitskiy of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research posted on X.

German security expert Ulrich Kuehn posted: "It looks as if Russia has today used an intercontinental ballistic missile in a war for the first time in history, against the civilian target Dnipro."

ICBMs are strategic weapons designed to deliver nuclear warheads and are an important part of Russia's nuclear deterrent.

The Ukrainians did not specify what kind of warhead the missile had or what type of missile it was. There was no suggestion it was nuclear-armed.

But the Ukraine air force said the Russian missile attack targeted enterprises and critical infrastructure in the central-eastern city of Dnipro.

Regional governor Serhiy Lysak said the missile attack caused damage to an industrial enterprise and set off fires in Dnipro. Two people were hurt.

"Two people were wounded — a 57-year-old man was treated on the scene and a 42-year-old woman was hospitalised," said the official, Mr Lysak.

The Kremlin has refused to comment. (AP: Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool)

Russia also fired a Kinzhal hypersonic missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles, six of which were shot down, the Ukrainian air force said.

Defense Express, a Ukrainian defence consultancy, asked whether the United States, Kyiv's main international ally, had been informed about the missile launch ahead of time.

"The announcement of such launches is a prerequisite for preventing the triggering of a missile warning system and the launch of missiles in response," Defence Express wrote after the air force statement.

Russia launching an intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine would mark a "clear escalation" by President Vladimir Putin, the European Union said on Thursday after Kyiv accused Moscow of such an attack.

"While we're assessing the full facts it's obvious that such (an) attack would mark yet another clear escalation from the side of Putin," EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano told reporters, saying the move would represent a "quantitative and qualitative change" in the war.

This incident comes in the same week Washington lifted restrictions on Ukraine using US-made long-range missiles to strike Russia.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the US by signing a revised doctrine to lower the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

The updated doctrine allows Russia to consider a nuclear strike if faced by aggression "with the use of conventional weapons".

Ukraine fired US ATACMS missiles into Russia on Tuesday after US President Joe Biden gave the all-clear to use such missiles.

Russia's defence ministry, in its daily report of events over the previous 24 hours on Thursday, said air defences had shot down two British Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

Reuters/AFP