By Olena Harmash
KYIV, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Russia fired a powerful hypersonic missile overnight at a target in Ukraine near the border with NATO-member Poland, in what Kyiv’s European allies described as an attempt to intimidate them from supporting Ukraine.
Moscow said it fired the Oreshnik missile in response to what it calls an attempted drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences last month, which Ukraine denies and the United States has said did not happen.
It was only the second time Russia has fired the Oreshnik at Ukraine, and came amid a night of air attacks that Ukrainian authorities said also killed four people in Kyiv, knocked out power in the capital and damaged the Qatari embassy there.
The Oreshnik, an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) designed to project power across Europe and which Moscow says is impossible to intercept, can carry nuclear warheads although there was no suggestion it had done so. A senior Ukrainian official said it appeared to be carrying inert “dummy” warheads.
“Such a strike close to EU and NATO border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said on X.
“It is absurd that Russia attempts to justify this strike with the fake ‘Putin residence attack’ that never happened,” he added. “Putin uses an IRBM near EU and NATO border in response to his own hallucinations — this is truly a global threat. And it demands global responses.”
EU DENOUNCES ‘CLEAR ESCALATION’
Days after a summit where European countries pledged to offer troops for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and Washington backed giving security guarantees for Kyiv, the EU said Moscow was trying to intimidate Ukraine’s allies.
“Russia’s reported use of an Oreshnik missile is a clear escalation against Ukraine and meant as a warning to Europe and to the U.S.,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X.
“EU countries must dig deeper into their air defence stocks and deliver now. We must also further raise the cost of this war for Moscow, including through tougher sanctions.”
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said: “Threatening gestures are intended to instil fear, but they will not work. We stand with Ukraine.”
The senior Ukrainian official said the missile had struck the workshop of a state enterprise in the western city of Lviv near the Polish border. Impact from several submunitions caused “minor penetrations of concrete structures” at the workshop and made craters in the forest area, the official told Reuters.
Separately, the SBU state security service said Russia had attempted to destroy civilian infrastructure in the surrounding region amid “rapidly deteriorating weather conditions”.
Moscow said it hit energy infrastructure and a factory that made drones used in the attack on Putin’s residence.
Kyiv has called Moscow’s allegation that it attacked Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region of northern Russia on December 29 “an absurd lie” to sabotage peace talks. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he does not believe it happened, although something else happened in the area.
CASUALTIES, POWER SUPPLIES DISRUPTED IN ATTACK ON KYIV
Russia fired a total of 242 drones and 36 missiles, including the Oreshnik, to hit infrastructure in the western Lviv region and in and around Kyiv, Ukraine said.
One of the four people killed in Kyiv was Serhiy Smoliak, 56, an emergency medic who came to help survivors at a suburban apartment hit by a drone and was killed in a follow-up strike. His body lay covered on snowy ground near a road. Four other medics and five rescuers were wounded there.
Authorities said more than 20 people were injured in the capital and electricity was knocked out to more than half a million homes. Amid heavy snow and temperatures of around -10 Celsius (14°F), water and heat were cut off. Residents sheltered underground on mattresses and chairs, some wrapped in blankets.
Qatar confirmed that its embassy was damaged and said no one was hurt there. The country has occasionally acted as a mediator in the conflict.
The Oreshnik was fired just before midnight, according to Lviv regional officials. The Ukrainian military said the missile was moving at a speed of 13,000 km per hour.
Moscow first fired an Oreshnik – Russian for “hazel tree” – against what it said was a military factory in Ukraine in November 2024. Ukrainian sources said that missile carried dummy warheads, not explosives, and caused limited damage.
Ukrainian and U.S. envoys, joined by a coalition of Ukraine’s allies, have been negotiating in Paris this week to iron out remaining disagreements in a peace framework Washington wants to thrash out with Kyiv before presenting it to Russia.
Moscow has shown scant inclination to drop its maximalist demands.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Andrew Osborn, Tom Balmforth, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Giselda Vagnoni, Alvise ArmelliniWriting by Matthias WilliamsEditing by Gareth Jones and Peter Graff)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.