Russia hits Ukraine with hypersonic missile in one of war's biggest attacks on Kyiv

KYIV - 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 two people in Kyiv and two more in the surrounding area, and it wounded nearly 100, according to Ukrainian officials. 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 Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app, urging Ukraine’s allies to act. “Decisions are needed - from the United States, from Europe and others.” 

Officials also reported strikes in other parts of Ukraine and two deaths in the southern region of Kherson.

Europeans decry ‘escalation’

European leaders condemned the Kyiv 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. 

Kyiv’s national art museum and philharmonic hall, both in the heart of the city, were badly damaged, officials said, with many other historic buildings in the city centre also affected.

“This is a war against our culture, memory, and identity,” Zelenskyy’s top aide, Kyrylo Budanov, said. “For centuries, Moscow has tried to destroy everything that makes us Ukrainian.”

One of the strikes destroyed a newly opened museum commemorating the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, eliciting angry words from Zelenskyy when he visited the scene.

At a city center cafe that had celebrated its opening on Saturday, staff were sweeping up glass and rubble on Sunday. Despite the damage, they continued to serve customers, some of whom said they had come to show their support.

“Once the emotions die down a bit, we’ll think about whether to restore everything ... or whether to work at all,” said Yevhenii Prusak, the cafe’s co-owner.

Nuclear-capable missile

It was only the third time that Russia has used the Oreshnik missile against Ukraine since the war began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Oreshnik has a range of several thousand kilometres.

The previous two strikes had hit major cities, but Zelenskyy said this one had struck Bila Tserkva, a city of 200,000 people that lies about 40 miles from the outskirts of Kyiv.

The Oreshnik’s warhead appears to have split into 36 submunitions, according to a review of Reuters footage of the strike by Rollo Collins, an investigator at the Center for Information Resilience, an open-source investigation organization.

In total, the air force said, Russia launched 90 missiles and 600 drones. 

Zelenskyy said Russia had also targeted water-supply facilities, saying Moscow wanted to damage them before the summer increased demand.

Moscow said it had used Oreshnik, Iskander, Kinzhal and Zircon missiles in retaliation for Kyiv’s strikes on civilian targets in Russia. Ukraine says it does not target civilians.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted Ukrainian military command facilities, including sites used by land forces and military intelligence, air bases and military-industrial sites.

Moscow also denies targeting civilians, although thousands have been killed by its bombardments of Ukrainian cities during the war.

‘Terrifying’ night in Kyiv

The attack devastated Lukyanivka, a district north of Kyiv’s city center which is home to a missile plant. Many of the nearby apartment blocks and commercial buildings have been damaged repeatedly by Russian strikes throughout the war.

A shopping center and a nearby market were gutted by flames.

At least two people were killed and another 81 wounded in the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. About 30 buildings in the city were damaged or destroyed, according to Zelenskyy.

Many residents sought shelter overnight in metro stations. Nataliia Zvarych, 62, said she had rushed to her local station as explosions started rocking the city.

“It was terrifying, scary,” she said.

Ukraine strikes

Ukraine’s SBU security service said its drones attacked an oil pumping dispatch station in Russia’s Vladimir region on Sunday, adding that the facility was an important node in pumping oil products southwest to Moscow and its surrounding area.

“It supplies fuel to major oil depots around Moscow and to Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, and Vnukovo airports,” the SBU said in a statement on social media. It added that a fire over an area spanning 8,600 square feet was recorded after the strike.

The governor of Vladimir Region, Alexander Avdeyev, said in a social media post that the fire near the town of Kameshkovo had been extinguished.

Avdeyev’s post, quoted by Interfax news agency, referred only to the fire being at an infrastructure site and gave no indication that it was linked to the oil industry.

Russia’s Yaroslavl region, northeast of Moscow, was also under a drone attack, the Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said on Telegram.

Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn, Felix Hoske, Alina Smutko, Gleb Garanich, Anna Voitenko and Yurii Kovalenko.

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 7:46 PM.