At least 2 dead, 83 injured after Russia uses nuclear-tipped missiles in major attack in Ukraine

Russia used a powerful hypersonic missile to do so a major attack Sunday in Kyiv, which killed at least two people, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Oreshnik ballistic missile used in the attack is nuclear-powered, and its latest explosion marked the third time Russia has used that weapon during the four-year war.

The intense airstrikes, which included drone and missile strikes, were among the largest since the war began in 2022. It left buildings damaged across Ukraine, including government offices, residential buildings, markets and schools, Ukrainian authorities said. Horrific footage showed rescuers trying to get people out of a building that was destroyed and burned in the fighting.

At least 83 people were injured in the attack.

The Oreshnik, capable of carrying nuclear or conventional weapons, attacked the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram. The target was not yet clear.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Sunday confirmed that it had used the Oreshnik, along with other types of missiles, to hit “military control centers in Ukraine,” air bases and military industrial enterprises. It did not specify what the target was. The ministry added that the attack was in retaliation for Ukraine’s attacks on “public facilities on Russian territory,” without providing details.

In a separate statement on social media a few hours later, it said no human sites were targeted in the overnight strike in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday condemned the drone strike on a college dormitory in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, which Moscow blamed on Kyiv, and ordered the Russian military to present its proposals for retaliation. He said there are no military or law enforcement agencies near the college.

The death toll in the Starobilsk strike has risen to 21 as search and rescue operations have been suspended, the press service of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said on Saturday. It said 42 other people were injured in the incident last night. The authorities installed in the Kremlin in the Luhansk region announced two days of fasting on Sunday and Monday in honor of the victims.

At an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the strike, held at Russia’s request, Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Melnyk denied his Russian counterpart’s accusations of war crimes, calling them a “pure propaganda show” and asserting that the May 22 operation “only targets the Russian war machine.”

Ukraine and its allies have accused Russia of routinely targeting civilians and critical civilian infrastructure since the early days of the war. The Kremlin denies this.

Russia says the Oreshnik is immune to any missile defense system

Russia first used the multi-warhead Oreshnik in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024. It was used for the second time in January in the western region of Lviv.

The latest coordinated attack included 600 drones and 90 air, sea and ground missiles, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Ukrainian air defenses destroyed and intercepted 549 drones and 55 missiles. About 19 missiles failed to reach their target, the Air Force said.

Earlier, Zelenskyy warned that Russia plans to use Oreshnik, citing intelligence from the US and Western allies.

Kyiv’s European allies, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz, condemned the Russian strikes and the use of Oreshnik in online statements published on Sunday.

“Russia has come to a standstill on the battlefield, so it has terrorized Ukraine with deliberate strikes in the city center. These are despicable acts of terrorism aimed at killing as many civilians as possible,” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, wrote in X.

He added that top politicians from EU states will meet in a few days “to discuss how to dial back international pressure on Russia.”

President Vladimir Putin previously said the Oreshnik, which means “hazelnut tree” in Russian, travels 10 times the speed of sound, or Mach 10, and is capable of destroying underground bunkers “three, four or more down.”

The weapon travels “like a meteorite” and is not immune to any missile defense system, Putin said, adding that several such missiles, even armed with conventional weapons, could be as dangerous as a nuclear strike.

A siren sounded at night as smoke billowed across the city due to the strikes. Associated Press reporters heard a powerful explosion near the city center near government buildings.

The attack highlights Ukraine’s air defense missile shortage

Zelenskyy said that not all missiles were fired and most of the strikes hit Kyiv, which was the main target of the attack.

The attack and the apparent failure of the blockade underscored Ukraine’s chronic shortage of ballistic-capable air defense missiles. Kyiv relies heavily on US Patriot air defense systems to intercept such weapons, but the missiles remain in short supply and are among Ukraine’s urgent requests to its Western allies.

Developing a domestically produced alternative has become a priority for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, although doing so will require significant time and funding.

By bombarding Kyiv with a large number of missiles on Sunday, Russia may also be seeking to deplete Ukraine’s limited stockpiles ahead of what could be an even more intense wave of attacks this summer.

Residents of Kyiv who have stayed so far are considering emigration

Damage was recorded in 50 places in several districts of the capital, including residential buildings, shopping centers and schools, Ukrainian emergency services said in a Telegram post. It also says the buildings of the police department.

The fires continued to rage into the early hours of the morning, complicating rescue efforts as buildings collapsed from the explosions.

“It was a terrible night, and there has never been anything like this in the whole war,” said Kyiv resident Svitlana Onofryichuk, 55, who has worked at the injured market for 22 years.

“I am very sorry that I have to say goodbye to Kyiv now, I don’t live there anymore, nothing is happening,” he added. “My work is gone, everything is burnt, everything is burnt.”

Yevhen Zosin, 74, a resident of Kyiv who witnessed the attack, said that when he heard the explosion he rushed to catch his dog.

“Then there was another explosion, he and I were thrown backwards like a pin due to the shock wave. We both survived, he and I. My apartment was blown to pieces,” he said.

In the village of Kyiv, in Shevchenko, a five-story apartment building was hit, causing a fire, and one person died, Ukrainian emergency services said.

The school building was damaged by the attack while people took shelter inside, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Local authorities reported that supermarkets and warehouses across the city were also damaged.

Many communities recorded damage across Kyiv region, according to Mykola Kalashnyk, the region’s governor.

Elsewhere, a Ukrainian plane killed a citizen in the Russian city of Grayvoron, in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border, local authorities reported Sunday morning.

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