Russia plans 'training' launch of Yars intercontinental ballistic missile overnight on May 19, Ukraine's HUR claims
Russia is planning a "training" launch of an RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile overnight on May 19, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) reported on May 18.
According to the agency, the missile will be equipped with a "training" warhead, and the move is intended to intimidate Ukraine, as well as EU and NATO member states.
The possible launch of the nuclear-capable missile follows peace talks in Istanbul on May 16 and comes just hours before a scheduled phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The launch is set to take place near the village of Svobodny in Sverdlovsk Oblast, roughly 100 kilometers northeast of Yekaterinburg, according to HUR.
The agency did not specify what the potential target of a possible attack might be.
Yars, or RS-24, is a strategic solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile system adopted by Russia in 2009. It has a claimed range of 11,000 kilometers and, when equipped with a combat warhead, an explosive power equivalent to a million tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT).
The Kyiv Independent could not verify all the claims.
The possible launch echoes Russia's use of an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) in an attack on Dnipro on Nov. 21, 2024, which followed the lifting of U.S. and U.K. restrictions on long-range Ukrainian strikes inside Russia.
That strike was also followed by a Russian media campaign aimed at eroding Western support for Ukraine.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
