Russia pounded Kyiv and surrounding areas with hundreds of drones and missiles on Sunday in one of the heaviest bombardments of the city since the start of the four-year war, firing an Oreshnik hypersonic missile near the capital.
Russia’s hours-long overnight barrage killed four people and wounded nearly 100, according to Ukrainian officials, and authorities said dozens of residential buildings and several schools had been damaged, many in the centre of Kyiv.
“It’s important that this does not remain without consequences for Russia,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app, urging Ukraine’s allies to act. “Decisions are needed – from the United States, from Europe and others.”
European leaders condemned the attack, with Britain and Germany describing the use of the Oreshnik – an intermediate range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads – as an “escalation”.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, accused Moscow of resorting to “a political scare-tactic and reckless nuclear-brinkmanship”.
The attack caused minor damage to Ukraine’s cabinet building and to the Foreign Ministry.
