Russia said Friday it used its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile along with other weapons in a massive strike on Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said four people were killed and at least 22 wounded in the capital overnight. Russia didn’t say where Oreshnik hit, but Russian media and military bloggers said it targeted a huge underground natural gas storage facility in Ukraine’s western Lviv region. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack was a retaliation to what Moscow said was a Ukrainian drone strike on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence last month. Ukraine and President Trump have rejected the Russian claim of the attack on Putin’s residence.The ministry said attack drones and high-precision long-range land and sea-based weapons were also used in the assault, according to Reuters.The news agency reported that Ukraine’s air force said Russia’s barrage included 242 drones and 36 missiles, including the Oreshnik, but Ukrainian air defenses downed 226 of the drones and half the missiles. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said Russia struck critical infrastructure with a ballistic missile, but didn’t give details. He said the missile traveled at a speed of 13,000 kilometers (more than 8,000 miles) per hour, and that the specific type of rocket was being investigated. Russia first tested the Oreshnik – Russian for hazelnut tree – to strike a Ukrainian factory in November 2024. Putin has bragged that Oreshnik’s multiple warheads plunge at rates of up to ten times the speed of sound and can’t be intercepted, and that several of them used in a conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack. Oreshnik can also carry nuclear weapons.The Russian leader has warned the West that Russia could use the Oreshnik next against allies of Kyiv that allowed it to strike inside Russia with their longer-range missiles.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media that Moscow’s use of the Oreshnik so close to the European Union and the NATO border is “a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community. We demand strong responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” French news agency AFP reported.After the overnight strike on Ukraine’s capital, those killed included an emergency medical aid worker, said Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. Five rescue workers sustained injuries while responding to the site of ongoing attacks, said Ukraine’s security service. Several districts in Kyiv were hit in the attack, said Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. In the Desnyanskyi district, a drone crashed onto the roof of a multi-story building. At another address in the same district the first two floors of a residential building were damaged. In Dnipro district, parts of a drone damaged a multistory building and a fire broke out. Running water and electricity were disrupted in parts of the capital as a result of the attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. The attack took place just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alerted the nation about Russia’s intentions for a large-scale offensive. He said Russia aimed to take advantage of the frigid weather in the capital, making roads and streets perilously icy.
