Russia fired a powerful hypersonic missile overnight at a target in Ukraine near the border with Nato-member Poland, in what Kyiv’s European allies yesterday described as an attempt to intimidate them from supporting Ukraine.
It was only the second time Russia has fired the Oreshnik at Ukraine, and came amid a night of air attacks that Ukrainian authorities said also killed four people in Kyiv, knocked out power in the capital and damaged the Qatari embassy there.
The Oreshnik, an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) designed to project power across Europe and which Moscow says is impossible to intercept, can carry nuclear warheads although there was no suggestion it had done so. A senior Ukrainian official said it appeared to be carrying inert ‘dummy’ warheads.
The strike appeared aimed at cowing Ukraine at a crucial juncture in talks to end the war, analysts said. It happened after a week of setbacks for Russia, including the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow said it fired the Oreshnik missile in response to what it calls an attempted drone attack on one of Putin’s residences last month, which Ukraine denies and the United States has said did not happen.
“Such a strike close to EU and Nato border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on X.
“It is absurd that Russia attempts to justify this strike with the fake ‘Putin residence attack’ that never happened,” he added. “Putin uses an IRBM near EU and Nato border in response to his own hallucinations – this is truly a global threat. And it demands global responses.”
It took place days after a summit where European countries pledged to offer troops for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and Washington backed giving security guarantees for Kyiv.
“Russia’s reported use of an Oreshnik missile is a clear escalation against Ukraine and meant as a warning to Europe and to the US,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X.
“EU countries must dig deeper into their air defence stocks and deliver now. We must also further raise the cost of this war for Moscow, including through tougher sanctions.”
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who had a call with the leaders of France and Britain, said: “Threatening gestures are intended to instil fear, but they will not work. We stand with Ukraine.”
The senior Ukrainian official said the missile had struck the workshop of a state enterprise in the western city of Lviv near the Polish border.
Impact from several submunitions caused ‘minor penetrations of concrete structures’ at the workshop and made craters in the forest area, the official said.
Separately, the SBU state security service said Russia had attempted to destroy civilian infrastructure in the surrounding region amid ‘rapidly deteriorating weather conditions’.
Moscow said it hit energy infrastructure and a factory that made drones used in the attack on Putin’s residence.
Kyiv has called Moscow’s allegation that it attacked Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region of northern Russia on December 29 ‘an absurd lie’ to sabotage peace talks. US President Donald Trump has said he does not believe it happened, although something else happened in the area.
Russia fired a total of 242 drones and 36 missiles, including the Oreshnik, to hit infrastructure in the western Lviv region and in and around Kyiv, Ukraine said.
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