Kyiv claims Russia launched a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time in an attack on Ukraine, but that account has reportedly been disputed by US officials.

The powerful weapon is believed to have been fired from Russia’s southern Astrakhan region during a morning attack on Thursday at the central-eastern city of Dnipro -  at a time of escalation in the 33-month-old invasion launched by Russia in Ukraine.

But the ICBM claim has been disputed by the Americans, with a senior US official telling the New York Times that the weapon appeared to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile, who however added that it was “a new type we have been tracking”.

It comes after Ukraine used American Atacms and British Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets inside Russia this week, something Moscow had warned for months would be seen as a major escalation.

Just hours later, Vladimir Putin approved­ an updated Russian nuclear doctrine lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear strikes.

We’re joined by The London Standard’s defence editor Robert Fox, who discusses the strike, Russia capabilities and why the UK government must “level with the public” to address people’s worries.

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