Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a large-scale overnight attack, officials said Friday, killing at least four people. For only the second time, it used a new ballistic missile that it says flies at 10 times the speed of sound and is unstoppable. The intense barrage and the launching of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile came days after Ukraine and its allies reported major progress toward agreeing on how to defend the country from further Moscow aggression if a peace deal is struck to end Russia's almost 4-year-old invasion, the AP reports.
Months of US-led peace efforts have failed to stop the fighting, however. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has made significant progress on the terms of a possible peace settlement in talks with Washington envoys. But Moscow has given no public signal it is willing to budge from its demands. The attack comes amid a new chill in relations between Moscow and Washington after Russia condemned the US seizure of an oil tanker in the North Atlantic. It also comes as President Trump has signaled he is on board with a hard-hitting sanctions package meant to economically cripple Moscow.
- Ukrainian officials said four people were killed and at least 22 wounded in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, during the overnight attack as apartment buildings were struck. Those killed included an emergency medical aid worker, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. At least five rescue workers were injured. Zelensky said Russia aimed to take advantage of frigid weather in the capital that has made roads and streets perilously icy.
- The attack damaged the Qatari Embassy in Kyiv, Zelensky said Friday. He noted that Qatar has played a key role in mediating the exchange of prisoners of war. He called for a "clear response" from the international community, particularly from the United States.
- Russia's Defense Ministry said the attack was a retaliation to what Moscow said was a Ukrainian drone strike on Russian President Vladimir Putin's residence last month. Both Ukraine and President Trump have rejected the Russian claim of the attack on Putin's residence.
- Russian authorities didn't say which city was targeted by the Oreshnik, but Ukrainian officials say it hit infrastructure in Lviv, around 40 miles from the Polish border, the BBC reports.
- Putin has previously said that the Oreshnik streaks to its target at Mach 10, "like a meteorite," and has claimed it is immune to any missile defense system. Several of them used in a conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack, according to Putin, who has warned the West that Russia could use the Oreshnik next against Kyiv allies that allow it to strike inside Russia with their longer-range missiles.
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