Russia says new Oreshnik hypersonic missile used in massive strike against Ukraine

Russia said Friday it used its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile and other weapons in a massive strike on Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said four people were killed and at least 22 injured in the capital overnight. Russia did not specify where Oreshnik struck, but Russian media and military bloggers said he targeted a massive underground natural gas storage facility in the Lviv region of western Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the attack was retaliation against what Moscow called a Ukrainian drone strike against the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. Ukraine and President Trump have rejected Russian allegations regarding the attack on Putin’s residence.

The Russian Defense Ministry said attack drones and long-range high-precision land and sea weapons were also used in the assault, according to Reuters.

The news agency reported that the Ukrainian Air Force said the Russian barrage included 242 drones and 36 missiles, including the Oreshnik, but that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 226 drones and half of the missiles.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said Russia had hit critical infrastructure with a ballistic missile, but did not give details. He said the missile traveled at a speed of 13,000 kilometers (more than 8,000 miles) per hour and that the specific type of rocket was under investigation.

Russia first tested the Oreshnik – hazelnut in Russian – to strike a Ukrainian factory in November 2024. Putin has boasted that the Oreshnik’s multiple warheads dive at up to ten times the speed of sound and cannot be intercepted, and that several of them used in a conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack. Oreshnik can also carry nuclear weapons.

The Russian leader warned the West that Russia could next use the Oreshnik against kyiv’s allies who have allowed it to strike inside Russia with their longer-range missiles.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media that Moscow’s use of the Oreshnik, so close to the European Union and NATO border, poses “a serious threat to the security of the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community.” We demand strong responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” French news agency AFP reported.

After the nighttime strike in the Ukrainian capital, among those killed was a medical rescuer, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the kyiv city military administration. Five rescue workers were injured while responding to the site of the ongoing attacks, Ukraine’s security services said.

Several districts of kyiv were hit during the attack, said the head of the Kyiv city military administration, Tymur Tkachenko. In the Desnyanskyi district, a drone crashed on the roof of a multi-story building. At another address in the same area, the first two floors of a residential building were damaged.

In the Dnipro region, elements of a drone damaged a multi-story building and a fire broke out.

Running water and electricity were cut off in parts of the capital following the attack, kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The attack came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alerted the nation of Russia’s intentions to launch a full-scale offensive. He said Russia was seeking to take advantage of the freezing weather in the capital, making roads and streets dangerously icy.