Oreshnik missile – Russia launched a mass drone and missile attack on Kyiv that killed at least two people and wounded at least 83 others, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Russia used the hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for the third time in four years.
Kyiv woke into smoke and sirens Sunday after an attack that tore through the city center and kept echoes of explosions rolling into the morning. Ukrainian officials said Russia used the hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile as part of a large-scale drone and missile assault that killed at least two people and wounded at least 83 others.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia used the Oreshnik during the attack. calling it the third time the weapon has been used in the four-year war. In a post on Telegram. he said the Oreshnik struck the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region. though the target was not immediately clear.
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed Sunday that it used the Oreshnik and other missile types to strike what it described as Ukrainian “military command and control facilities. ” air bases and military industrial enterprises. It did not specify where the targets were. Later. ministry officials told Russian media that no civilian sites were targeted in the overnight strike. a claim reported by the Tass state agency on Sunday. In a statement on social media. the ministry said the attack was retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on “civilian facilities on Russian territory. ” without offering immediate details.
The assault damaged buildings across Ukraine’s capital. including near government offices. residential buildings. schools. a market and schools. according to Ukrainian authorities. Ukrainian emergency services said damage was recorded in 50 locations across several districts. including residential buildings. shopping centers and schools. and that police department buildings were also damaged. Fires continued into the morning as buildings collapsed from the blasts, complicating rescue efforts.
“It was a terrible night. and there had never been anything like it in the entire war. ” said Kyiv resident Svitlana Onofryichuk. 55. who had worked in the market that was damaged for 22 years. “I am very sorry that I have to say goodbye to Kyiv now. I am not staying there anymore. there is no possibility. ” she added. “My job is gone, everything is gone, everything has burned down.”.
Another resident, Yevhen Zosin, 74, described how he reacted when the explosions began. “The moment I heard the explosion I rushed to grab my dog,” he said. “Then there was another explosion and she and I were thrown back like a pin by the shock wave. We both survived, she and I. My apartment was blown to pieces.”.
In Kyiv’s Shevchenko district. a five-story residential building was hit. causing a fire. and one person was killed. the Ukrainian state emergency service reported. Kyiv’s mayor. Vitali Klitschko. said a school building was damaged while people sheltered inside. and local authorities reported supermarkets and warehouses across the city also were damaged.
Outside the capital, multiple communities recorded damage across the Kyiv region, according to Mykola Kalashnyk, the regional governor. Elsewhere, a Ukrainian drone killed a civilian in the Russian town of Grayvoron in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, local authorities reported Sunday morning.
The scale of the attack was matched by the focus on what could or couldn’t be stopped in the air. Ukraine’s Air Force said the latest combined attack included 600 strike drones and 90 missiles launched from air. sea and ground platforms. Ukrainian air defenses destroyed and jammed 549 drones and 55 missiles. and Ukraine’s Air Force said around 19 missiles failed to reach targets.
Zelenskyy said not all the ballistic missiles were intercepted and that most of the strikes hit Kyiv. which was described as the primary target of the attack. The failure to intercept every ballistic missile underscored what Ukrainian officials have repeatedly described as a chronic shortage of air defense missiles capable of downing such weapons.
Kyiv relies heavily on U.S. Patriot air defense systems to intercept ballistic missiles. but interceptor missiles remain in critically short supply and are among Ukraine’s most urgent requests to Western partners. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has said developing a domestically produced alternative has become a top priority. though officials have indicated it would require significant time and funding.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, has argued the Oreshnik is able to evade missile defenses. Earlier. Putin denounced a drone strike on a college dormitory in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine that Moscow blames on Kyiv. and ordered the Russian military to submit proposals for retaliation. Putin said there were no military or law enforcement facilities near the college. The death toll from the strike in Starobilsk had risen to 21 as search-and-rescue operations closed. according to Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations press service late Saturday. which said 42 other people had been wounded the previous night. The Kremlin-installed authorities of the Luhansk region announced two days of mourning on Sunday and Monday to honor the victims.
At a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting on the Starobilsk strike, held at Russia’s request, Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Melnyk denied Russia’s war-crimes accusations, calling them a “pure propaganda show” and asserting that the May 22 operations “exclusively targeted the Russian war machine.”
Ukraine and its allies have accused Russia of routinely targeting civilians and key civilian infrastructure since the early days of the war. The Kremlin denies this.
The Oreshnik itself has been used sparingly so far but with high impact. Russia first used the multiple-warhead Oreshnik on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024. and it was used a second time in January in the western Lviv region. Putin said the Oreshnik—meaning “hazelnut tree” in Russian—streaks at 10 times the speed of sound. or Mach 10. and is capable of destroying underground bunkers “three. four or more floors down.” He described the weapon’s flight as “like a meteorite” and said it is immune to any missile defense system. adding that several such missiles. even fitted with conventional warheads. could be as devastating as a nuclear strike.
Earlier this month, Zelenskyy warned that Russia was planning to use the Oreshnik, citing intelligence from the U.S. and Western partners.
Kyiv’s European allies condemned the Russian strikes and use of the Oreshnik. Kaja Kallas. the European Union’s foreign policy chief. posted on X that Russia “hit a dead-end on the battlefield. so it terrorizes Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centers. ” calling the attacks “abhorrent acts of terror meant to kill as many civilians as possible.” She said top diplomats from EU states will meet within days to “discuss how to dial up the international pressure on Russia.”.
With fires still burning and damage spread across dozens of locations. the attack also left Ukrainians facing a familiar question: how much of what was launched could be stopped. and what comes next. Zelenskyy said most of Sunday’s strikes hit Kyiv and that interception failures meant some missiles got through—an outcome that. for many residents. turns air-defense numbers into something personal and immediate.
Kyiv Oreshnik missile hypersonic Volodymyr Zelenskyy Russia Defense Ministry air defenses Patriot missiles Bila Tserkva Starobilsk United Nations Security Council