Russian forces used a hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile during an overnight drone-and-missile barrage on Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. Russia later confirmed it had fired the weapon.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas accused Moscow of employing ‘a political scare-tactic and reckless nuclear-brinkmanship’ and said EU foreign ministers would discuss ways to increase international pressure on Russia at next week’s meeting. French President Emmanuel Macron called the use of the Oreshnik ‘a form of escalation,’ and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his government ‘strongly condemns this reckless escalation.’
Zelenskyy said the missile struck the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region; the precise target there was not immediately clear. Ukrainian officials noted this was the third recorded use of the Oreshnik in the war. The missile is reported to be capable of carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads.
The strike came amid a large-scale attack on Kyiv and surrounding areas in the early hours of Sunday that Ukrainian authorities said killed at least four people and wounded dozens. Ukraine’s Air Force reported the combined assault involved around 600 strike drones and 90 air-, sea- and ground-launched missiles. Ukrainian air defenses reportedly destroyed or jammed 549 drones and 55 missiles, while about 19 missiles failed to reach their targets.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said the capital faced a mass ballistic missile attack with impacts reported across multiple districts, and preliminary reports of fires and damage to residential buildings. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said falling debris started a fire at a central school.
Zelenskyy had warned on Saturday that intelligence from Ukraine, the United States and European partners showed preparations for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory that could include the Oreshnik. Moscow said the attack followed a Ukrainian drone strike on Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine that it says hit a college dormitory and killed at least 18 people. Ukraine denied targeting civilians and said it struck a Russian drone unit in the Starobilsk area of Luhansk region.