“We are seeing signs of preparations for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kiev, involving various types of weapons,” including the intermediate-range missile Orechnik, he added, calling on the population to “act responsibly” and to take refuge in shelters in case of alert.
A turning point in the conflict in Ukraine? Kiev achieves its most important territorial gains since 2024
The American embassy in Kiev also “received information regarding a potentially major air attack that could occur at any time in the next 24 hours,” according to a statement posted on its website.
President Zelensky called on the international community to “pressure” Russia to deter such an attack and warned that Ukraine will “fully and equally respond to each Russian strike.”
The Russian army deployed the Orechnik, its most recent hypersonic missile with nuclear capability, last year in Belarus, a bordering ally of three NATO and EU member states, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, as well as Ukraine.
Moscow has used it twice since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022: in November 2024 against a military factory and in January 2026 against an aerospace factory in western Ukraine, near the borders of NATO.
In both cases, the missiles were not loaded with nuclear warheads.
Renat Soulemanov, the Russian deputy who dares to demand the end of Vladimir Putin’s “special operation” in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised a military response after a Ukrainian drone strike on educational buildings in Starobilsk, in Ukrainian territory occupied by Moscow, in the night from Thursday to Friday, which killed at least 18 and injured more than 40.
Kiev denied targeting civilian sites and claimed to have hit a Russian drone unit stationed in the region.
