Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with a new hypersonic ballistic missile, a rare use of the advanced weapon in what appeared to be its latest attempt to send a threatening message to Kyiv and the West.
Though capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, the Oreshnik missile can also carry conventional warheads, as in this attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry said early Friday that it had carried out a “massive strike” against critically important targets in what it said was a response to an alleged Ukrainian drone strike late last year on a residence used by President Vladimir Putin.
The United States and others have rejected the Kremlin’s claims, saying the residence was not targeted. Ukraine has dismissed it as a “lie” intended to distract from Russia’s reluctance to agree to a peace deal.
The Russian attack on Ukraine was conducted using long-range, high-precision weapons based on land and at sea, the defense ministry said in a statement, including the Oreshnik hypersonic missile system.
The targets included facilities involved in the production of drones used in the alleged attack on Putin’s residence, as well as energy infrastructure “supporting the operation of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex,” the ministry said, adding that “the objectives of the strike were achieved.”
“Any terrorist actions by the criminal Ukrainian regime will continue to be met with a response,” the ministry said.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched 36 missiles and 242 drones during the Friday attack, including one hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile. The air force said it had downed 226 drones and 18 missiles, while 18 missiles and 16 attack drones hit their targets at 19 sites.
Russia has not provided any evidence of the alleged attack on Putin’s residence on the shore of Lake Valdai in the northern Russian region of Novgorod, which Ukraine says is a pretext to undermine peace talks.
Though President Donald Trump initially said he was “very angry” about the alleged attack after hearing about it directly from Putin, he said this week that U.S. officials had determined the residence was not targeted.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on Thursday warned of “a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days.”
The Oreshnik missile was previously used in late 2024 in what Putin said was a response to Ukraine’s use of long-range Western weapons to hit targets inside Russia for the first time. Putin said at the time that there is “no means of intercepting” the intermediate-range ballistic missile, and that Russia would continue to test it.
