Russiaattacked Ukraine with a hypersonic Oreshnik missile overnight Thursday, a rare use of one of its most advanced weapons during the latest onslaught targeting the country amid freezing temperatures.
"The Russian Armed Forces launched a massive strike with high-precision long-range land- and sea-based weapons, including the Oreshnik mobile medium-range ground-based missile system," the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Friday.
The Oreshnik, which is Russian for "hazelnut tree," is one of Russia's newest weapons, traveling up to 10 times the speed of sound with a range that allows it to reach all of Europe, Russia's missile forces chief has said.
The missile can contain multiple warheads and carry either conventional or nuclear payloads. Moscow used it for the first time in November 2024, striking the Ukrainian city of Dnipro even though the weapon was not fully developed at the time.
Last month, Russiareleased videoof what it said was the deployment of the Oreshnik missile system in close ally Belarus.
Russia said it launched its attack in response to Ukraine's purported attempt to hit Russian President Vladimir Putin's home last month – a claim that came amid intensive talks led by US President Donald Trump and his envoys to end the war in Ukraine.
The CIA has assessed Ukrainewas not targetinga residence used by Putin, according to US officials.
The Oreshnik strike came hours after Moscow repeated that European troops deployed to Ukraine as part of any future peace deal would be considered "legitimate targets," and the seizing of a Russian-flagged oil tanker by the United States on Wednesday.
Several explosions and a ballistic missile strike on a critical infrastructure facility were reported by authorities in the western city of Lviv.
The missile was "moving at a speed of about 13,000 kilometers per hour along a ballistic trajectory," a statement from the Air Command "West" of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said. It added the type of missile would be determined after its components had been examined.
A speed of 13,000 kilometers per hour is about 10 times the speed of sound.
In Kyiv a CNN reporter said that the attack began around midnight, starting with multiple drone strikes on residential buildings.
Streetlights flickered before large parts of the city were plunged into darkness, as a thick fog settled over the streets and temperatures plummeted to –5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit).
Four people were killed and 10 others wounded in the attack, according to the city's mayor Vitali Klitschko, who said "critical infrastructure" had also been damaged.
There was "no information" about casualties following the missile strike on Lviv, mayor Andriy Sadovyi wrote on Telegram. "Civilian facilities and residential buildings in the city have not been affected," he said.
Russia has been poundingUkraine's energy infrastructurewith drones and missiles in recent weeks, a tactic used in previous winters. The strikes have left tens of thousands of people across the country without power or heating amid freezing winter temperatures. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the aim of such attacks is "to create chaos and apply psychological pressure on the population."
The reports came hours after the US Embassy in Ukraine said it had "received information concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days."
The attacks also come as Russia doubled down on its longstanding position of declaring Western forces in Ukraine "legitimate targets" on Thursday, days after France and the UK pledged to send troops there in the event of a peace deal. Russia has long opposed the presence of any Western troops in Ukraine.
And on Wednesday the United States forces boarded and seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean followinga weeks-long chase on the high seaswhich has escalated tensions with Moscow and piled further pressure on its ally Venezuela.
Russia condemned the seizure, with its transport ministry arguing "no state has the right to use force against vessels that are properly registered in the jurisdictions of other nations" under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a treaty which the US has not signed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is yet to comment on the developments related to the tanker, which the US had previously sanctioned for carrying illicit Iranian oil.
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