Russia fires powerful hypersonic missile in mass attack on Kyiv
Russia used a new hypersonic ballistic missile in one of its largest bombardments of the Kiev region since the beginning of the war; At least four people died in this attack.
The US classifies Oreshnik, which can carry multiple conventional or nuclear warheads, as a medium-range missile. Its speed and orbit almost unstoppable By air defense systems available to Ukraine. This is only the third time Russia has used the missile.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the missile fell near the city of Bila Tserkva in central Ukraine, adding: “They have really lost their minds. It is vital that this does not go unpunished for Russia.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that the fired missile carried a fake warhead.
“Moscow’s use of Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missiles, systems designed to deliver nuclear warheads, is reportedly a political scare tactic and a reckless attempt at nuclear intimidation,” said Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief. X.
Russia fired a total of 600 drones and 90 missiles at Ukraine overnight and its air defenses shot down 604 weapons, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Sybiha called it “one of the biggest attacks” on the capital.
Zelensky said, “Unfortunately, not all ballistic missiles were shot down. The place that was hit the most was Kiev, and the main target of this Russian attack was Kiev.”
The overnight attack on the capital came after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s He ordered retaliation for a deadly Ukrainian attack in a Russian-occupied region of Ukraine.
Debris and broken glass covered a room in a damaged university dormitory building in Starobilsk, an occupied town in eastern Luhansk, after what Russian occupation forces called a drone attack on Ukraine on Saturday, May 23, 2026. -Pavel Klimov/Reuters
Ukraine disputed Putin’s claim, saying it only targeted military facilities. -Pavel Klimov/Reuters
Putin accused Ukraine of a “terrorist” act, claiming that Ukrainian drones hit a university dormitory in the Russian-occupied town of Starobilsk in eastern Luhansk on Friday.
The number of “children killed in the Ukrainian drone attack” has risen to 18, Russian state news agency TASS said on Saturday, citing the Russian Emergencies Ministry. It is thought that there are 3 more people under the rubble.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that the use of Oreshnik and other ballistic missiles was “in response to Ukrainian terrorist attacks on civilian targets on Russian territory.”
The Ukrainian military rejected Putin’s claim and reiterated that it had hit “military infrastructure and facilities used for military purposes.”
It was stated that among the targets hit in the early hours of Friday was “one of the headquarters of the ‘Rubicon’ unit in the Starobilsk region.”
Elite rubicon The Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies has been leading Russia’s drone technology and targeting since its founding in 2024.
Nataliia Zvarych, who took shelter in the Kiev metro station early on Sunday against Russia’s retaliation, described a night full of “horror”.
Speaking to the Reuters news agency, the 62-year-old financier described Russia’s attack as “terrible” and said, “We passed under the explosions, we saw things flying there. It was terrible, frightening, we have been sitting here listening to the explosions for more than three hours.”
“Decisions of the United States, Europe and others are needed for this old curmudgeon in Moscow to be able to say the word ‘peace’,” Zelensky said in a harsh reference to Putin on Sunday.
CNN’s Victoria Butenko, Aleena Fayaz and Max Saltman contributed.
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