Ukraine-Russia war latest: Four dead in Kyiv after Russia fires Oreshnik hypersonic missile in major attack

The Russian military fired at least 36 missiles and 242 drones targeting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure during an overnight attack, Ukraine’s air force said in an update.

The missiles included one hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile, the air force added.

Ukrainian air defences were able to down 226 drones and 18 missiles, the air force said.

It said on the Telegram app that 18 missiles and 16 attack drones hit their targets at 19 sites.

The Russian military says it has fired a hypersonic Oreshnik missile at a target in Ukraine, as part of what it said was a massive overnight strike on energy facilities and drone manufacturing sites there.

Russian officials claimed that the strikes targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and drone manufacturing facilities.

Earlier, local officials in Lviv in western Ukraine said they suspected an Oreshnik missile strike, though the exact model of ballistic weapon used was under investigation.

Russia said in a statement that the strike was a response to an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on one of president Vladimir Putin’s residences in late-December.

Kyiv has called the Russian assertion that it tried to attack the state residence in Russia’s Novgorod’s region “a lie”.

Reform leader Nigel Farage derided the commitment, saying the UK is in “no position” to put boots on the ground in Ukraine during a press conference on Wednesday. “With what boots? he asked. “What kit? We might be able to go for six to eight weeks but … We’re in no position to do it.”

Below, we look at how the country’s military equipment stacks up at present.

Moscow has repeated its rejection of any troops from European nations in Ukraine after a ceasefire, warning that it would not accept any Nato members sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.

“All such units and facilities will be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian Armed Forces,” Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said yesterday.

Calling the plan “dangerous” and “destructive”, the Kremlin spokesperson accused Kyiv’s allies of forming an “axis of war”.

Earlier this week, European leaders and US envoys announced that post-war guarantees for Ukraine would include a US-led monitoring mechanism and a European multinational force to be deployed once the fighting stops.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and the US embassy in Kyiv have both said a significant Russian attack could be imminent.

It was a rare instance of simultaneous warnings from both Kyiv and the US government.

Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, said: “There is information there could be a new, massive Russian strike this evening” and warned residents to take shelter when air raid sirens are sounded.

The US embassy said it had also received information “concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days”.

Russia likely used an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in its strikes on Lviv overnight, a Ukrainian MP has claimed.

“According to preliminary information, #russia has used an intercontinental missile(ICBM) against the Lviv region — just dozens of kilometers from the #NATO border. This is only the second use of such a missile in world history,” Inna Sovsun said on X.

“The war is close. Stop pretending nothing is happening. russia must be fallen for the world to be safe,” she said.

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier has strongly criticised US foreign policy under president Donald Trump and urged countries not to let the world order disintegrate into a “den of robbers” where the unscrupulous take what they want.

In unusually strong remarks, which appeared to refer to actions such as the ousting of Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro at the weekend, the former foreign minister said global democracy was being attacked as never before.

Describing Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a watershed, Steinmeier said the US behaviour represented a second historic rupture.

“Then there is the breakdown of values by our most important partner, the USA, which helped build this world order,” Steinmeier said in remarks at a symposium late on Wednesday.

“It is about preventing the world from turning into a den of robbers, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want, where regions or entire countries are treated as the property of a few great powers,” he said.

The death toll in Kyiv is up to four after Russian drones attacked targets in the early hours today, officials said.

At least 19 were injured and considerable damage has been reported on dwellings and infrastructure.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of the capital’s military administration and mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that four people had been killed in the strikes, which began just before midnight (2200 GMT).

Klitschko said 19 people were injured, with 14 of them being treated in hospital.

One of the dead, Klitschko said, was an emergency medic who had arrived at a suburban apartment hit by two drones in succession. Four members of the same crew were injured in that incident.