GS Paper - II

In response to the US and UK giving a greenlight to Kyiv to strike Russia with advanced Western weapons, Russia fired a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

What is ballistic missile?

• As their name suggests, ballistic missiles use projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target.
• They are powered for a relatively brief time, after which the let the laws of physics take them to their target.
• The Ukraine Air Force initially claimed that Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), nuclear-capable missiles with longer ranges than IRBMs.
• This claim was quickly disproven, and not just in Russia President Vladimir Putin’s televised address on 21 November 2024.
• According to the US Department of Defence analysis, the experimental IRBM was based on Russia’s RS-26 Rubezh ICBM model, and Russia likely possesses only a handful of these missiles at present. Putin referred to the missile as ‘Oreshnik’ (the hazel).
• The missile fired by Moscow, according to Western sources, boasts a range of as much as 5,500 km, enough to effectively target every European city from Russian territory.

An escalation or a response

• Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia’s decision to fire the missile was “yet more proof that Russia has no interest in peace.
• The world must respond… A lack of tough reactions to Russia’s actions sends a message that such behavior is acceptable.” The US too said that Russia deploying a new experimental missile was a matter of “concern”.
• But from the perspective of Russia, this follows an escalation from Ukraine and its allies over the past week. After receiving approval from the US and the UK, Kyiv struck Russia with six US-made ATACMS, a tactical missile system, followed by British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and American HIMARS, an artillery rocket system.
• In his television address, Putin said that the IRBM’s deployment “was a response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate and short-range missiles”, and that Russia would “respond decisively and symmetrically” in the event of an escalation. Previously, its western allies had barred Ukraine from striking Russian territory with advanced West-produced weapons.

An important development

• Nonetheless, the latest round of escalations marks a major development in the conflict.
• With Donald Trump soon to take over in Washington DC — all indications suggest that he will be far less supportive of Kyiv than his predecessor — both sides are jockeying hard for advantage ahead of the seemingly impending negotiations in the near future.
• This means that the next weeks and months might see many such escalations, with potentially devastating consequences.
• Beyond the conflict itself, Russia deploying IRBMs might also impact NATO’s strategic calculus in Europe.