Russia Fires 90 Missiles, 600 Drones, Including Oreshnik, Killing At Least Two in Kyiv

Russia launched one of its biggest overnight aerial assaults on Ukraine, firing 90 missiles and 600 attack drones, including an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, in an attack that killed at least two people in Kyiv.

“Russia uses hypersonic Oreshnik missile in mass attack on Kyiv Russia uses hypersonic Oreshnik missile in mass attack on Kyiv KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia used the powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile during a mass drone and missile attack on Kyiv on Sunday that killed at least two people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, marking the third time the weapon has been used in the four-year war”

AP News

The Oreshnik strike hit near Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the barrage also damaged buildings across the Ukrainian capital, including near government offices, residential buildings, a market and schools.

AP News

Ukrainian officials described the attack as one of the heaviest bombardments of the war, and the BBC reported that a Reuters team at the scene counted at least 28 bodies laid out in a nearby schoolyard.

In Kyiv, air raid sirens blared through the night as smoke billowed across the city, and Ukraine’s Air Force said it destroyed and jammed 549 drones and 55 missiles while around 19 missiles failed to reach targets.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned Russia as “unhinged” after Moscow launched the Oreshnik, and he wrote that “It’s important that this does not remain without consequences for Russia.”

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas accused Moscow of “reckless nuclear brinkmanship,” while the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bombardment demonstrated “the Kremlin’s brutality and disregard for both human life and peace negotiations.”

Associated Press

Russia’s defense ministry said the Oreshnik strike targeted Ukrainian “military command and control facilities,” air bases and military industrial enterprises, and it framed the attack as retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on “civilian facilities on Russian territory.”

At a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting called by Russia, Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Melnyk denied Russia’s accusations of war crimes, calling them a “pure propaganda show” and asserting that the May 22 operations “exclusively targeted the Russian war machine.”

The attack came after Vladimir Putin denounced a drone strike on a college dormitory in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, which Moscow blamed on Kyiv, and he ordered the Russian military to submit its proposals for retaliation.

“- Published Russia carried out a deadly large-scale wave of strikes against Ukraine, firing hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight”

BBC

In the aftermath, Zelenskyy said the Oreshnik attack marked the third time Russia has used the weapon over the course of the four-year war, and he said not all the ballistic missiles were intercepted.

The apparent interception failures underscored Ukraine’s chronic shortage of air defense missiles capable of downing ballistics, and Kyiv relies heavily on U.S. Patriot air defense systems while interceptor missiles remain in short supply.

European leaders pledged to increase pressure on Russia, with Kaja Kallas saying EU foreign ministers would discuss increasing pressure next week, and the BBC reported that the government would launch an immediate investigation and “hold the owners fully accountable” in the context of the broader accountability push after the attack.