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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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Russia launched a massive aerial assault on Ukraine on Sunday, killing at least four people in Kyiv and injuring scores more, as President Volodymyr Zelensky reported Moscow had used the powerful, rarely- deployed Oreshnik hypersonic missile.
The overnight assault was one of the largest attacks on Kyiv since Russia’s 2022 invasion and left 100 wounded, according to Ukrainian officials.
Zelensky said the missile struck near the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region as part of a sprawling overnight barrage that included around 600 drones and 90 missiles launched from air, sea, and ground platforms. He did not say what the target was.
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Air defenses intercepted most incoming strikes, but damage was recorded across at least 40 locations around Kyiv including near government offices, residential buildings, and schools. A house in Kyiv reportedly belonging to Zelensky was damaged during the attack, according to Times of Ukraine.
Russia's Defense Ministry later on Sunday confirmed it had used the new missile system which it says can evade conventional air defenses.
Widespread Damage
Explosions were heard across the city on Sunday as air raid sirens sounded through the night and continued into the morning.
“It was a terrible night, and there had never been anything like it in the entire war," said Kyiv resident Svitlana Onofryichuk, 55, who has worked in a 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.”
Damage was reported across multiple districts of the capital, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, in a post on Telegram.
Fires broke out across the capital as emergency services responded to damaged apartment blocks, supermarkets, and warehouses.
The Wall Street Journal reported the attack left burning markets, damaged homes and schools, and smoke rising across Kyiv as drones continued overhead into the early hours.
It said Ukraine’s foreign ministry building was hit for the first time since World War II, alongside damage to emergency-service and police buildings, schools and museums, as well as Kyiv’s metro system, where explosions damaged a station entrance and sent debris into the underground platform area.
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Oreshnik Used in Rare Deployment
It's just the third time in the war so far that the Russians have used the Oreshnik, a hypersonic missile that can be fitted with nuclear warheads, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russia first used the Oreshnik in a strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024 and again in the western Lviv region in January.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Sunday confirmed it had used the Oreshnik, as well as other missile types, to strike Ukrainian “military command and control facilities,” air bases and military industrial enterprises. It did not specify where the targets were.
Russian state media agency TASS reported officials saying no civilian sites had been targeted in the strike. Ukrainian officials have also not disclosed the target of the attack near Bila Tserkva.
Zelensky had earlier this week warned that Russia was planning to use the powerful missile, citing intelligence from U.S. and European partners.
The Ukrainian leader said in a follow up post that emergency services, including the State Emergency Service, National Police and municipal crews, were responding to the aftermath of Russia’s overnight strikes “as effectively as possible".
He said around 30 residential buildings in Kyiv alone had been damaged or destroyed and offered condolences to the families of those killed. Zelensky also thanked Ukrainians and international partners for their support but stressed that “concrete steps” to strengthen air defenses were urgently needed, warning that missile deliveries “must not stop for a single day.”
The Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas said Russia’s use of the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile amounted to “political intimidation” and a form of “reckless nuclear brinkmanship.”
Writing on X, she accused Moscow of targeting Ukrainian cities with “deliberate strikes on city centres” after what she described as battlefield setbacks, calling the attacks “abhorrent acts of terror meant to kill as many civilians as possible.” Kallas addied that EU foreign ministers will discuss increasing pressure on Russia at their next meeting.
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What Is the Oreshnik?
The Oreshnik is one of Russia’s newest missile systems and is capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads while traveling at speeds exceeding Mach 10, according to from Russian officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the weapon can evade missile defenses and strike hardened underground targets, though such claims cannot be independently verified.
Its use has been limited compared with more frequently deployed systems such as cruise missiles, Iskander ballistic missiles and long-range drones.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based research group, has said that the Oreshnik is likely an experimental variant of Russia’s RS-26 “Rubezh” intermediate-range ballistic missile, equipped with multiple reentry vehicles designed to complicate interception and overwhelm air defense systems.
The latest attack came after Ukraine stepped up long-range drone strikes inside Russia, targeting military and energy infrastructure and hitting areas near Moscow in recent weeks.
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