Russia allegedly fired ICBM towards Ukraine

[Zaphod58]

Didn't Ukraine shoot down a hypersonic missile with a patriot missile?

The Patriot can't shoot down an ICBM (which this wasn't), but it also can't shoot down a missile where it isn't. Russia has largely been targeting areas where Patriot isn't known to be for a while now.

[Zaphod58]

In what amounts to another example of weak reporting...

FoxNews: Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missile toward Ukraine, air force says
Subtitled: Ukraine's Air Force say they were able destroy six of the missiles during the early Thursday attack

I will explain why "weak" reporting....

1) The title is that an ICBM was lunched by Russia "in the direction of Ukraine" (toward)...
2) this is according to "air force"... who is that? theirs, ours?
3) Ukrainian say they shot down "six" of the missiles... the title doesn't say multiple...?

(Someone was in a hurry to publish this piece...)

Russian troops launched various missiles, reportedly including an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Astrakhan region, in an early morning attack on Ukraine on Thursday.

Ukraine's Air Force said on its Telegram account that it destroyed six Kh-101 cruise missiles using anti-aircraft combat.

The Russian attack hit critical infrastructure in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, according to the air force.


Six Kh-101 Cruise missiles... "including an intercontinental ballistic missile"... this is a story with a muddle in the middle... one that appears to be meant to cause fear...

The report ends....

If the attack did involve an ICBM, it would mark a major escalation in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the first time such a weapon has been used.

... Closing with the phrase "if the attack..." tells me that this was a poorly edited, badly crafted report... the kind that has more at it's roots than "read-all-about-it!" news

It was actually an MRBM, not an ICBM.  It was their Oreshnik missile, which has a range between 1,000 and 3,000 kilometers (620-1860 miles).

[Maxmars]

Looks like we got us a case of "Media Headline-itis" here!

Intercontinental... Medium Range... some would call it lazy reporting... some don't care as long as they get the clicks.

I suppose it's all rocket bombs to the editors...

Sorry for the misfire (pun intended.)

[Zaphod58]

Looks like we got us a case of "Media Headline-itis" here!

Intercontinental... Medium Range... some would call it lazy reporting... some don't care as long as they get the clicks.

I suppose it's all rocket bombs to the editors...

Sorry for the misfire (pun intended.)

It's all about clicks and being first. They'll never correct it. I've seen tons of posts on Twitter about it being an RS-26 or just an ICBM, and none correcting it to being an Oreshnik. They also all have the fake video of the "impacts" with none pointing out they're not the actual impacts. No one cares as long as they are first.

[Sirius]

Desperate men does desperate things and this rumor started from the Ukraine side (at least that's what it looked like right as this started)

With my tinfoil hat on I can totally see the Russians giving them some false intel to shake them up. This was one of the headlines on southfront yesterday "Kiev Trembling Before Russian Revenge. Who Shakes It?"

[Nerb]

What the hell are these things:

https://x.com/justxashton/status/1859605...kmSRaPdvng

There are no ground explosions.

Imagine watching the clip in REVERSE.

Launching, not striking?

Would maybe explain the lack of impact explosions and the uniformity and proximity of the missiles.

edit to add: just read Guy's post mentioning a reverse clip.

Good Instinct but with a dose of kneejerk response on my part eh?

I wonder if other clips will get some scrutiny if this is an exposed fake to find similar misinformation?

[Maxmars]

...

I wonder if other clips will get some scrutiny if this is an exposed fake to find similar misinformation?

That bad part is that almost every clip we see needs to be thoroughly vetted... no one here signed up to be the watchdog for propaganda and social engineering... so we have to share and comment, and hope that mindfulness is enough to counter them. 

(The sad part is that it takes more than mindfulness to change the landscape.)

[Zaphod58]

Question is whether or not the particular bomb used typically carries a nuclear payload. If so, then it's definitely a significant escalation. A mock execution...of the world really. Incredibly scary times. I've already kinda wrapped my head around seeing nuclear war soon. Looking into a kennel system to make sure our animals are easy to move and transport at a moments notice.

It’s nuclear capable, like many IRBM/MRBM are. It’s big differentiating feature is the fact that it is MIRV equipped. Most missiles in that class only have a single warhead. It’s fairly new, so this would be one of the few they have available to them.

[Zaphod58]

MIRV settles it then. I feel like the US is the only one that abides by it's own nuclear treaties. I don't even think we use MIRV's anymore. I think some of the land based missiles we have are capable still, but not armed with anything other than one warhead. We haven't really designed anything new in some time. Whereas it seems like Russia spends much of its limited defense budget on nuclear weapon development.

We still use MIRVs, but we limit the number on our missiles. We usually limit them to 3 even when they can take 8.

We just cut the core for a new warhead for the Sentinel ICBM that’s in development.

[Sirius]

Was there a conclusion to this, I see the video are still making the rounds? I thought the video showing the strike was fake, something shot in reverse.  Now I'm not so sure.