Russia is threatening to strike Kyiv with a “massive” new missile in revenge for the use of Western weapons against its territory.
Vladimir Putin’s armed forces are preparing to fire RS-26 intercontinental ballistic missiles at the Ukrainian capital, local media reported.
Western nations including the United States shut their embassies on Thursday in anticipation of a large-scale air strike. The joint closure, also involving Italy, Spain and Greece, marked the gravest expression of concern from foreign embassies since the early days of the war.
On Wednesday, British Storm Shadow missiles hit a command post in the Kursk region in their first use against the Russian mainland. US-made ATACMS hit an ammunition dump in neighbouring Bryansk the day before.
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According to Moskovky Komsomolets, a Moscow-based newspaper, the Russian military is readying to launch RS-26 missiles from a site in the city of Astrakhan by the Caspian Sea.
The RS-26 has not been used in combat before, according to Western missile experts. It is said to fly at five times the speed of sound, making it harder for Kyiv’s US-supplied Patriot missile systems to shoot down.
Kyiv has regularly been attacked by smaller, slower Iskander missiles since the war began.
The RS-26 is fired from a ground-based launcher and reportedly weighs 50 tonnes, with a warhead three times larger than the Iskander.
Timur Syrlanov, a Russian military analyst, told Moskovky Komsomolets that Ukrainian people should be “trembling” over the potential use of the missile.
“In this situation, we will not use nuclear weapons, but the neo-Nazis and their Western allies, I think, will appreciate in the coming days the blow that will be dealt to Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and, possibly, to targets in Kyiv itself,” he said.
Kyiv was sent into a state of frenzy on Wednesday morning when the US embassy announced that it had closed for the day. In a statement, the embassy said its employees had been instructed to shelter in place after the US received information of a “potential significant air attack”.
Americans in the city were urged to pay special attention to the city’s regular air raid alerts.
Following the announcement, Greece, Italy and Spain also shuttered their embassies.
Just before 2pm, Ukraine warned of a potential missile attack and urged people to seek shelter.
It came as a false message spread throughout Ukrainian messaging channels that the defence intelligence of Ukraine had announced that Russia had planned to launch a missile attack including more than 317 different types of radio-controlled strike drones.
The air raid alert lifted soon after it began, and as it did so, Ukraine’s official defence intelligence social media accounts announced that the threat anticipated by people throughout Ukraine was a “false flag” information attack by Russia.
Daily life in Kyiv went on mostly as usual despite the threats of the attacks. Parents walked their children to school; trolleybuses, metros and buses were packed with commuters.
People walked on the streets with their headphones on, and patrons frequented restaurants and cafes in the city centre. One barista told The Telegraph that his cafe was empty because of the threat of the attack, but when asked if he was afraid to be at work, he said: “It’s the same as every day for the last two years.”
Telegraph journalist Francis Dearnly reported from Kyiv that locals attempt to work out if air raid sirens indicate a real threat of missile strikes, so they can stop sheltering and carry on as normal.
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Francis Dearnly in Irpin, Ukraine
Since the war began there have been about 1370 alerts in Kyiv, according to city officials. These have lasted more than 1,550 hours in total – meaning if residents hid during each one they would have spent more than two months in bunkers.
