Pentagon Says Russia Reported The US Before Ballistic Missile Launch, Continued To Ukraine

Pentagon spokesman Sabrina Singh. (Wikimedia Commons/DoD/Lisa Ferdinando)

JAKARTA - Russia notified the United States before its new ballistic missile launch, Oreshnik, to Ukraine, which was then forwarded to Kyiv.

US Department of Defense spokesman Sabrina Singh said the notice was to reduce nuclear risk.

"The United States was briefly notified before its launch through a nuclear risk reduction channel," Singh said, quoted from Sputnik November 22.

It was then forwarded to Kyiv. Singh said the United States had warned Ukraine beforehand about the possible use of the Orestnik missile by Russia.

"So we told Ukraine and our partners and allies about the possibility this missile could be used," he said, launching TASS.

However, Singh did not provide an answer to the question of how Ukraine could prepare itself for such an attack.

President Vladimir Putin himself while speaking in a televised address said Russia would issue a notification before using this type of missile.

"We will do it (notification) because of humanitarian issues, openly, openly, without any concern about countermeasures from the enemy, who will also receive this information," President Putin said.

As previously reported, Russia fired ballistic missiles at Dnipro, hitting Ukraine's military target on Thursday, after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to attack Russia with Western weapons.

President Putin, in a televised address, said Moscow attacked Ukrainian military facilities with a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as "Oreshnik", warning more would follow.

"Russia hit a Ukrainian aerospace factory called Yuzhmash with a hypersonic ballistic missile carrying a non-nuclear warhead," President Putin said.

The Ukrainian Air Force said the missile targeted Dnipro in Ukraine in the middle and was fired from Russia's Astrakhan region, more than 700 km (435 miles) away.

Russia also fired Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles, six of which were shot down, Ukraine's air force said.

"The world must respond. Currently, there is no strong reaction from the world," said President Zelensky.

"Putin must feel the consequences of his crazy ambition. A response is necessary. Pressure is needed. Russia must be forced to achieve true peace, which can only be achieved through force," he said.

The attack targeted companies and critical infrastructure in Dnipro, the air force said.

Regional Governor Serhiy Lysak said the attack damaged an industrial company and sparked a fire in Dnipro, causing two people to be injured.

It is known that Dnipro was the center of missile manufacturing in the Soviet era. Ukraine has expanded its military industry during the war but kept its whereabouts a secret.