Russia pre-notified the United States about the launch of a new experimental missile at Ukraine through nuclear risk reduction channels, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that the White House was aware that Russia had launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine. An unnamed U.S. official also told Reuters that “the U.S. was pre-notified through nuclear risk reduction channels.”
According to Peskov, Moscow sent Washington an “automatic notification” 30 minutes before launching an “Oreshnik” missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday morning.
In an earlier video address, President Vladimir Putin confirmed the test and described the “Oreshnik” as Russia’s newest medium-range ballistic missile. According to Putin, the strike targeted a defense facility in Dnipro using a ballistic missile equipped with a non-nuclear payload. In addition, Putin said the test was conducted in response to the Ukrainian military’s attacks on targets inside Russia using American ATACMS and French-British Storm Shadow missiles.