Russia pummels Kyiv in major missile and drone attack
The firing by Russia of an Oreshnik missile was seen as nuclear muscle flexing, though in two previous instances in Ukraine it was launched with dummy warheads that caused only minimal damage.
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia unleashed a prolonged missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s capital and nearby towns early Sunday morning, with explosions rattling buildings for hours and igniting several fires in a volley that included a rare, intermediate-range Oreshnik missile.
The firing of that missile was seen as nuclear muscle flexing, though in two previous instances in Ukraine it was launched with dummy warheads that caused only minimal damage. The authorities did not immediately disclose the scope of damage in Sunday’s strike.
In Kyiv, the bombardment damaged two entryways to the subway system — an underground refuge for thousands of people during air attacks — including in a strike on or near Kyiv’s central Independence Square, known as the Maidan and a symbol of resistance to Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had warned that Russia planned to launch an Oreshnik, which is a type of intermediate-range ballistic missile specifically designed to carry nuclear warheads. Russia had used these missiles once in 2024 and again in January.
With its nuclear overtones, the Oreshnik is fired as a political tool rather than an effective weapon, in this case coming after setbacks on the battlefield for Russia. Last fall, Russian officials told the Trump administration’s peace negotiators that Moscow would seize the entire Donbas region in Ukraine’s east within months. But advances in drone warfare have helped shift the tide in Ukraine’s favor, and Russia’s advance has ground to a halt.
The Oreshnik missile releases multiple warheads while in flight, sending them streaking along steep trajectories that American Patriot air defense systems cannot intercept. Reports from Bila Tserkva, a town about 50 miles south of Kyiv, suggested the characteristic, fast-moving flurry of warheads had landed there. Ukraine’s air force confirmed the missile’s use in the attack.
Although damage has been limited in past strikes, for Ukrainians the recurring use of the missile is a harrowing, nerve-rattling normalization of a doomsday weapon from Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
The volley also could signal an early example of a Western adversary taking advantage of the dwindling global supply of ballistic missile defenses after the war against Iran, where many were used.
Ukraine has ample domestically made and imported weapons to shoot down drones but relies wholly on scarce, American-made Patriot missiles to intercept ballistic missiles. But the Patriots are in short supply after the Iran war.
The barrage of drones and missiles that flew into Kyiv early Sunday appeared to cause extensive damage. As the sun rose, columns of smoke were visible at several spots on the skyline. Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian news outlet, reported that a strike had buried the entryway at a bomb shelter at a school, trapping people inside.
Among the approximately 40 sites in Kyiv damaged by missiles, exploding drones, or debris falling from the sky after air defense intercepts was the Chernobyl museum, dedicated to the 1986 nuclear accident.
All that was left of a farmers market and shopping center was a sprawling panorama of charred, smoking ruins covering several city blocks. In one spot, the plastic golden arches of a McDonald’s restaurant had melted and sagged in the heat of a fire.
In a small crowd of bystanders, anger simmered. Liudmyla Postnyk, 63, a video editor for a website, said, “I would like to look in the eyes of those who did this.” Her feeling toward Russians, she said, “is something more than hate.”
The attack Sunday was the largest on Ukraine since December 2024, according to a data set created by the New York Times using numbers drawn from the Ukrainian air force. That suggested an effort to overwhelm Ukraine’s Patriot missile defenses.
Russia fired 90 cruise and ballistic missiles of various types Sunday; Ukraine shot down most cruise missiles and drones but only 11 of the 33 ballistic missiles that streaked into the country.
“It’s not a secret” that Ukraine is short of Patriots, said Yurii Sak, a former adviser to the Ministry of Defense. “We just don’t have enough projectiles to shoot down this number of missiles. It’s simple math.”
In the past strikes, Russia warned the United States of its intent to use the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile, and it seems to have done so in this case. Zelensky said Saturday that the United States and European nations had informed Ukraine of Russian plans to launch the missile again. In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense said the attack Sunday was a response to Ukraine striking civilian sites in Russia.
The two previous attacks with this type of missile hit the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine and a site in western Ukraine near the Polish border.
Sunday’s attack followed setbacks on the battlefield for Russia and a humiliating and costly recent run of successful Ukrainian long-range drone attacks on facilities for exporting oil, the lifeblood of Russia’s economy. Russia scaled back its annual Victory Day parade on Red Square, in Moscow, this month amid worry of Ukrainian drone attacks.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.