Russia plans to conduct a “training and combat” launch of an RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile from the Yars complex overnight on 19 May 2025, according to Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Directorate.

“The aggressor state Russia intends to carry out a ‘training and combat’ launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile RS-24 from the Yars complex on the night of 19 May 2025,” the intelligence agency reported.

Ukraine’s military intelligence said that the missile launch is meant “to demonstrate pressure and intimidate Ukraine, as well as EU and NATO member states.”

The launch will be carried out by the crew of the 433rd regiment of the 42nd division of Russia’s 31st Strategic Missile Forces Army. The missile will be launched from a mobile ground-based complex near the settlement of Svobodny in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region.

The three-stage solid-fuel missile has a range exceeding 10,000 kilometers, according to Ukrainian intelligence.

The RS-24 missile was developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology. It weighs 49,000 kg and is a modification of the Topol-M complex missile.

The first test launch of the RS-24 took place in 2007 at the Plesetsk test site in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region, targeting the Kura test range in northern Kamchatka. The deployment of this weapon was confirmed in 2010.

This might be not the first time Russia used intercontinental ballistic missile against Ukraine.

On 21 November 2024, Russia used the nuclear-capable missile against the city of Dnipro, launched from the Astrakhan region of Russia, approximately 740-1,000 km away from the target. The attack caused damage to an industrial enterprise, houses, garages, and a rehabilitation center, injuring two people.

The missile used was reportedly the RS-26 Rubezh, an ICBM capable of carrying nuclear warheads, though in this attack it is believed to have carried a conventional warhead or warhead simulators rather than a nuclear one. This marked the first combat use of an ICBM in history, a weapon designed originally for long-range nuclear strikes.

Russia described the missile as a new intermediate-range ballistic missile called “Oreshnik” in a televised address by President Putin, though Ukrainian and Western sources identified it as an ICBM.

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