(KYIV, UKRAINE) – Russia says it has fired its hypersonic Oreshnik missile at targets in Ukraine, marking only the second known use of the intermediate range weapon since the start of the war. Moscow claimed the strike was carried out in retaliation for an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on one of the residences of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, an accusation that Kyiv has firmly rejected as false.
The reported use of the Oreshnik missile came during a large scale overnight assault involving missiles and drones across several Ukrainian regions. Video footage of explosions and air defence activity circulated widely on social media as loud detonations were heard for hours in the capital and other cities.
Ukrainian authorities said at least four people were killed and 25 others injured in Kyiv during the attacks on Thursday night. Among the dead was a paramedic who was responding to an earlier strike and was killed when the same location was hit again, a tactic often described by emergency services as a double strike. Residential buildings, a shopping centre and a health facility were among the sites damaged, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko. Power and water supplies were disrupted in parts of the city.
The bombardment was not limited to the capital. Ukrainian officials reported strikes across the country, from Lviv in the west near the Polish border to Zaporizhzhia in the south and Dnipro in central Ukraine. Residents in multiple regions reported prolonged air raid alerts as Russian aircraft launched missiles from both land based systems and aircraft.
Russian military sources confirmed what they described as a massive strike, including the use of the Oreshnik missile against what Moscow called critical infrastructure targets. Russian statements suggested that gas storage facilities in the Lviv region were among the intended targets, though Ukrainian officials said civilian infrastructure was also hit.
The Oreshnik missile is described by Russian authorities as an intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile capable of travelling at speeds exceeding ten times the speed of sound and with a potential range of up to 5,500 kilometres. Russian officials claim the weapon is extremely difficult to intercept, although independent verification of these claims is limited.
This is only the second reported deployment of the Oreshnik missile. The first was in November 2024, when Russia said it used the weapon in a strike on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Western military analysts note that such missiles can theoretically carry conventional or nuclear warheads, though there is no indication that a nuclear payload was involved in the latest attack.
Russia’s defence ministry said the strike was intended as retaliation for what it described as a Ukrainian drone attack on a residence linked to the Russian dictator in late December. Ukrainian authorities have denied carrying out any such operation and accused Moscow of using unsubstantiated claims to justify continued attacks on Ukrainian cities.
The latest assault followed renewed diplomatic tensions, with Moscow criticising Kyiv and its Western allies and rejecting proposals discussed at a recent summit in Paris aimed at post war security arrangements. Ukrainian officials said prior intelligence warnings had indicated an increased likelihood of missile launches, allowing air defences to prepare, though the scale of the attack still caused significant casualties and damage.
