Russia’s military pummeled Kyiv overnight with large-scale drone and missile attack that killed at least two people and injured scores of others, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.
Moscow’s forces used some 600 drones and 30 missiles, including at least one Oreshnik, a powerful hypersonic ballistic missile that is capable of carrying nuclear weapons, Ukraine’s air force said.
“The largest number of missiles was directed at the capital — at ordinary residential buildings, at schools,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
“The Russian strike effectively destroyed the Chornobyl Museum, damaged the National Art Museum and the building housing the office of Germany’s ARD,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian intelligence services had warned of an attack using Oreshnik missiles on Friday, Zelenskyy said in another post. “The use of such weapons … also sets a global precedent for other potential aggressors,” he warned.
The attack on Kyiv came after Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of carrying out an attack on student dormitory in Luhansk, in occupied eastern Ukraine, in which 18 people died. Putin ordered the Russian military to prepare “proposals” on how to retaliate.
Ukraine’s military denied responsibility for the deaths, saying it had struck a military command center.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, condemned the Russian strikes as “abhorrent acts of terror meant to kill as many civilians as possible.” She called the use of Oreshnik “a political scare-tactic and reckless nuclear-brinkmanship.”
“Next week, EU foreign ministers will discuss how to dial up the international pressure on Russia,” Kallas added.
The latest attack sparked a wave of solidarity with Ukraine from the both European and world leaders, including the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal.