Russia launched a large-scale overnight assault on Ukraine using hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, killing at least four people and injuring dozens more, Ukrainian officials said Friday. Moscow claims the attack included the second-ever combat use of its new nuclear-capable Oreshnik ballistic missile, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has described as flying at 10 times the speed of sound and being impossible to intercept.
The barrage comes at a sensitive moment in the war, just days after Ukraine and its Western allies reported progress toward outlining long-term security guarantees should a peace agreement eventually be reached. Despite months of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts, the fighting has not abated, and Moscow has shown no public willingness to soften its demands.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said negotiations with U.S. envoys have produced meaningful movement on possible peace terms, but Russia’s actions signal continued escalation rather than compromise.
Ukrainian authorities said the capital, Kyiv, bore the brunt of the attack. At least four people were killed and 25 wounded after apartment buildings were struck. Among the dead was an emergency medical worker, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. Several doctors and a police officer were injured while responding to the strikes.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said roughly half of the city’s apartment buildings — nearly 6,000 — were left without heating as temperatures dropped to around minus 8 degrees Celsius. Water supplies were also disrupted. Emergency crews used mobile boiler units to restore heat and electricity to hospitals, maternity wards and other critical facilities.
Zelenskyy said the attack also damaged the Qatari Embassy in Kyiv, noting Qatar’s role in mediating prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine. He urged a “clear response” from the international community, especially the United States, which he said Russia continues to take seriously.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the assault was retaliation for what it claimed was a Ukrainian drone attack on Putin’s residence last month — an allegation denied by both Kyiv and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Putin has previously said the Oreshnik missile reaches its target at Mach 10 “like a meteorite” and is immune to missile defenses. He has warned that multiple Oreshnik strikes using conventional warheads could rival the destructive power of a nuclear attack, and has suggested Russia could deploy the weapon against countries aiding Ukraine.
Ukrainian intelligence officials say the missile carries six warheads, each with six submunitions. While Moscow did not disclose the target, Russian media and military bloggers reported that the missile struck an underground natural gas storage facility in Ukraine’s western Lviv region, near a key corridor for Western military aid entering from Poland.
Ukraine’s Security Service said it recovered debris from an Oreshnik missile in the Lviv area, adding that it was launched from Russia’s Kapustin Yar test range and struck civilian infrastructure.
Russia first used the Oreshnik missile in November 2024 against the city of Dnipro. Analysts say its deployment adds a new layer of psychological warfare aimed at intimidating both Ukrainians and Western backers of Kyiv.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv would seek urgent international action, including an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and consultations within the Ukraine–NATO Council.
“A strike this close to the EU and NATO border is a grave threat to European security and a test for the transatlantic community,” Sybiha said.
At the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV called for renewed efforts toward peace and an immediate ceasefire, urging dialogue to end the suffering caused by the war.
Leaders of Britain, France and Germany jointly condemned the attack as “escalatory and unacceptable.” The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the missile launch was intended as a warning to Europe and the United States.
“Putin doesn’t want peace,” Kallas wrote. “Russia’s response to diplomacy is more missiles and destruction.”
Several Kyiv neighborhoods were damaged in the attack, with drones crashing into residential buildings and sparking fires. In the Dnipro district, debris ignited a blaze in a multistory building.
Dmytro Karpenko, a 45-year-old resident whose windows were blown out, said he rushed to help a neighbor whose home caught fire.
“What Russia is doing shows they do not want peace,” he said. “But people want peace. People are suffering. People are dying.”
