Russia launches Oreshnik missile at Kyiv, killing 4
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- Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv, using 600 drones and 90 missiles, including the nuclear‑capable Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile, killing four people in the capital and two in the surrounding region.
- Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 549 drones and 55 missiles, according to the Ukrainian air force.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Oreshnik missile struck a water‑supply facility, a market, residential buildings, schools and a college dormitory in Starobilsk, wounding 69 people in Kyiv and additional casualties in Kharkiv, Cherkasy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
- President Emmanuel Macron condemned the strike, saying it signalled “the dead end of Russia’s war of aggression.”
- EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas denounced the use of the Oreshnik missile as “reckless nuclear brinkmanship.”
- Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported two civilian deaths in Kyiv and damage across all districts, including a school fire and damage to a German ARD studio.
Why it matters: The attack shows Russia’s escalation to a nuclear‑capable hypersonic missile against Kyiv’s civilian infrastructure, prompting sharp condemnation from the EU and France and raising the conflict’s risk of nuclear‑brinkmanship, while the retaliation narrative fuels a cycle of retaliatory strikes that increase civilian casualties.
