Shortly before midnight, the Ukrainian Air Force issued an unusual warning. From Kapustin Yar, a Russian strategic missile test site near the Caspian Sea, the launch of a ballistic missile was possible. Shortly thereafter, explosions shook the region around Lviv in western Ukraine. Kyiv did not confirm whether a nuclear-capable intermediate-range missile had actually been used from that area. Yet the mere possibility marks a new quality of threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the suspicion is confirmed, it would be only the second time since the start of the war that Russia has used a missile from one of its strategic test sites against Ukraine. As early as 2024, Moscow fired the Oreshnik, a new intermediate-range missile, also from Kapustin Yar. At that time it carried decoys instead of warheads and caused only limited damage. The message was nevertheless unmistakable. Russia demonstrated what it is technically capable of - and that it is willing to deploy these capabilities politically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n