Russia Uses Hypersonic Oreshnik Missile In Mass Attack On Kyiv

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia used powerful hypersonics Oreshnik ballistic missile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that the weapon was used for the third time in the four-year war during Sunday’s mass drone and missile attack on Kiev that killed at least two people.

Ukrainian officials said the intense air strike damaged buildings in the Ukrainian capital, including government offices, residential buildings, schools and a marketplace. At least 83 people were injured in the attack.

While smoke spread all over the city due to the attacks, air raid sirens sounded throughout the night. Associated Press reporters heard powerful explosions near the city center and near government buildings.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the attack involved 600 attack aircraft and 90 air-, sea- and land-launched missiles. Ukrainian air defense destroyed and intercepted 549 drones and 55 missiles. About 19 missiles failed to reach targets, the Air Force said.

Albanian foreign minister Ferit Hoxha reported that the residence of the Albanian ambassador to Ukraine was hit during the attack, calling it “unacceptable” and a “serious escalation”.

In Telegram, Zelenskyy said that the Oreshnik, which can carry a nuclear or conventional warhead, hit the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kiev region.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed on Sunday that the gun and other types of missiles were used to attack Ukraine’s “military command and control facilities,” air bases and military industrial enterprises. The attack was in retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on “civilian facilities on Russian territory”, the ministry added, without giving details.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned Friday Drone attack on a university dormitory in Russian-occupied eastern UkraineMoscow blamed Kiev. He said there were no military or law enforcement near the university. Putin said he ordered the Russian army to retaliate.

Death toll as of: that hit That number had risen to 21, Russian officials said in a statement late Saturday. It was stated that 42 people were injured in the attack last night. Kremlin officials in the Luhansk region declared two days of mourning for the victims.

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the strike at the request of Russia, Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Melnyk rejected his Russian counterpart’s accusations of war crimes, calling them “purely a propaganda show” and asserting that the May 22 operations were “exclusively aimed at the Russian war machine.”

Kiev’s European allies, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz, condemned the Russian attacks and the use of Oreshnik in statements published on Sunday. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said senior diplomats from EU countries would meet in a few days to “discuss how to reduce international pressure on Russia”.

Zelenskyy said that not all ballistic missiles were captured and most of the attacks targeted Kiev, the main target of the attack.

The apparent interception failures underscored Ukraine’s chronic shortage of air defense missiles capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. Kiev relies heavily on U.S. Patriot air defense systems to intercept such weapons, but interceptors remain in short supply and are among Ukraine’s most pressing demands on its Western partners.

The development of a domestically produced alternative has become a top priority for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense; but this will take time and funding.

According to the statement made by the Ukrainian emergency service in a Telegram post, damage was recorded at 50 points in various regions of the capital, including residences, shopping malls and schools. It was stated that police department buildings were also damaged.

While buildings collapsed due to explosions, fires continued until the morning and rescue efforts became difficult.

“It was a terrible night and nothing like it had happened in the entire war,” said Svitlana Onofryichuk, a 55-year-old Kiev resident who has worked at the damaged market for 22 years.

“I am very sorry that I have to say goodbye to Kiev, I will not stay there anymore, there is no such possibility,” he added. “My business is gone, everything is gone, everything is burned.”

Yevhen Zosin, a 74-year-old Kiev resident who witnessed the attack, said that he ran to catch his dog when he heard the explosion.

“Then there was another explosion and he and I were blown back like pins by the shock wave. We both survived, him and I. My apartment was blown to bits,” he said.

According to the statement made by the Ukrainian state emergency service, a fire broke out after a five-storey residential building was hit in the Shevchenko district of Kiev and one person died.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that a school building where people were sheltering was damaged as a result of the attack. Local authorities reported that supermarkets and warehouses in the city were also damaged.

Several communities in the Kiev region recorded damage, according to Mykola Kalashnyk, who heads the regional administration.

Elsewhere, a Ukrainian drone reportedly killed a civilian in the Russian town of Grayvoron, in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, local officials reported Sunday morning.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had shot down or intercepted 33 Ukrainian drones by Sunday, including in the Moscow region, western and southwestern Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea.

Associated Press writer John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

This story corrects Mykola Kalashnyk’s headline.