New ballistic missile used by Russia to strike Dnipro on 21 November had no explosives and caused no destruction – Bild

A journalist for the German tabloid Bild has suggested that the new Russian ballistic missile that struck the city of Dnipro on 21 November was a test version of the RS-26 missile, and contained no explosives.

Source: Julian Röpcke, Senior Editor for German tabloid Bild

Details: Röpcke has reportedly studied various videos of the attack on the Pivdenmash plant in Dnipro. [Pivdenmash plant is a leading Ukrainian company that produces rocket and space technology and technologies for defence, scientific and economic purposes - ed.]

He believes the Russians used a modified version of the RS-26 Rubezh missile in the strike.

Quote from Röpcke: "Multiple surveillance cameras captured what are known as sub-munitions, i.e. an RS-26 re-entering the lower atmosphere. This horrific footage shows six missiles falling from the sky through the clouds.

The peculiarity is that it was a decoy with the same mass and size, which was supposed to simulate a nuclear charge. This confirms it was a propaganda and political move, not a military one. There was no nuclear charge or explosives inside, which is why the damage was minimal.

We don't see explosions [in the videos of the attack], only kinetic energy from a fall from a height of several hundred kilometres."

Background:

• Ukraine’s Air Force noted that during the latest missile attack on the city of Dnipro, Russia used an intercontinental ballistic missile. Ukrainska Pravda sources reported that it could have been a Rubezh missile, a potential carrier of nuclear warheads.
• However, two Western officials told Reuters that preliminary data did not confirm the use of an intercontinental ballistic missile by Russia.
• In his Thursday address, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin indirectly confirmed US reports, stating that during the morning attack on Dnipro on 21 November, Russia used the Oreshnik medium-range missile.
• The United States officially confirmed that on the morning of 21 November, Russia struck Dnipro with a ballistic missile based on the RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
• On 22 November, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine stated that Russia had attacked Ukrainian territory using a ballistic missile, likely from a Kedr missile system, on 21 November. 

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