By Peter Omopo
Russia has launched a hypersonic Oreshnik missile at a target in western Ukraine as part of a large-scale overnight assault that killed at least four people and injured more than 20 others, Ukrainian authorities have said.
According to Ukraine, the attack involved more than 240 drones and dozens of missiles, including ballistic and cruise missiles, with strikes reported in Kyiv and the western Lviv region, close to the borders of the European Union and NATO. Ukrainian officials warned that the use of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile posed a “grave threat” to European security.
Russia’s defence ministry said the strike was carried out in retaliation for an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences late last year. Ukraine dismissed the claim as false, while former US President Donald Trump said US checks showed no such attack had taken place.
In Kyiv, residential buildings and energy infrastructure were hit, leaving about half of the city’s apartment blocks without heating as temperatures dropped to as low as minus 8 degrees Celsius. The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said around 500,000 people were affected. Fires broke out in several buildings, and emergency crews worked through the night to contain the damage.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian drone also damaged a building at the Qatari embassy in Kyiv. Qatar later confirmed the damage but said no injuries were recorded. Zelenskyy accused Moscow of using winter conditions as “a tool of terror” and called for a strong international response.
Ukrainian officials said the Oreshnik missile struck the workshop of a state-owned enterprise in Lviv, causing limited structural damage. Ukraine’s security service said fragments recovered from the missile suggested it was likely fitted with inert or “dummy” warheads. Background radiation levels were reported to be normal.
The attack drew swift condemnation from Ukraine’s allies. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described Russia’s use of the hypersonic missile as “escalatory and unacceptable” during talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that the strike showed Moscow had no interest in peace.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey travelled to Kyiv hours after the attacks, where he met President Zelenskyy to discuss military support and future security arrangements. Healey described the Russian assault as “brutal and cynical” and urged renewed diplomatic efforts to bring Moscow to the negotiating table.
Zelenskyy said talks with Healey also covered the possibility of a British contingent working alongside French forces if diplomacy succeeds in ending the war, stressing the need for firm security guarantees to deter future Russian aggression.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials reported that their forces carried out what they described as one of their most effective infrastructure strikes of the war against targets in Russia’s Belgorod region, causing major disruptions to internet connectivity.
The latest escalation comes amid mounting international concern that Russia’s deployment of advanced hypersonic weapons could further widen the conflict and destabilise security across Europe.
