Russia launched fresh assaults on Ukraine, deploying the uncommon Oreshnik missile
The Oreshnik ballistic missile was used by Russia in a major overnight assault on Ukraine.
Four people were killed and 25 others injured in Kyiv on Thursday night, where loud explosions were heard for several hours, filling the sky with blasts.
This is only the second time Moscow has used the Oreshnik missile, which was first used to attack the city of Dnipro in November 2024.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack was a response to a Ukrainian drone attack on Vladimir Putin’s residence in late December, which Kyiv has denied carrying out.
While the ministry did not specify the target of the Oreshnik, videos began circulating on social media shortly before midnight (22:00 GMT) showing multiple explosions on the outskirts of the western city of Lviv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian officials confirmed that a ballistic missile had struck infrastructure in Lviv, approximately 60 km (40 miles) from the Polish border.
The Oreshnik is an intermediate-range, hypersonic ballistic missile, meaning it can potentially travel up to 5,500km (3,417 miles).
It is believed to have a warhead that, during its final descent, deliberately breaks into multiple separate targeted inert projectiles, causing a series of distinct explosions in quick succession.
“Such an attack near the EU and NATO borders is a major threat to the security of the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community,” said Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha.
He added that the attack was carried out “in response to [Putin’s] own delusions,” referring to the alleged drone attack on the president’s residence in December.
The EU immediately expressed serious doubts about whether the strike had even occurred, and last week Donald Trump said he didn’t think any such attack had taken place.
Zelenskyy said that in addition to Oleshky, 13 ballistic missiles targeted energy facilities and civilian infrastructure overnight, along with 22 cruise missiles and 242 drones.
He reported that one damaged the Qatari embassy building.
He alleged that these attacks were carried out “against the normal lives of ordinary people” in the cold weather and said that every effort was being made to restore heating and electricity.
Lviv and other western regions were targeted on Thursday night, while more than a dozen missiles and hundreds of drones were deployed during the attack on Kyiv.
Among those killed in a damaged apartment building in Kyiv was a paramedic. The capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, and Zelenskyy said it was a “double-tap” attack – a second strike following an initial one, killing rescue workers who had arrived to help the injured.
Two apartment buildings on the east bank of the Dnipro River and a high-rise building in the city’s central district were also hit.
Power outages affected many parts of the city amid bitterly cold weather, and Kyiv is bracing for temperatures of -15C (5F) this weekend.
Targeting power plants has become a recurring feature of this war, and Ukraine is retaliating with similar attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, leaving millions of people without regular access to electricity or heating.
The local governor said that on Thursday night, as Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine continued, half a million people in Russia’s Belgorod region were left without power after Ukrainian shelling targeted infrastructure.
Officials also said that a Ukrainian attack on a Russian power plant in the northern city of Oryol disrupted water and heating systems.
