At least four people were killed and more than a hundred injured in Ukraine in intense nighttime Russian bombings which particularly targeted the capital.
kyiv and Moscow have reported Russia’s use of its Oreshnik nuclear-capable ballistic missile. The European Union and Emmanuel Macron have strongly condemned the use of this vector. Here’s what we know.
What happened?
Russia targeted Ukraine with “90 missiles and 600 drones,” the Ukrainian air forces said Sunday morning, specifying that 55 missiles and 549 drones were intercepted. One of these missiles was an Oreshnik, a Russian hypersonic ballistic missile with an intermediate range and capable of carrying nuclear warheads, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Vladimir Putin “launched his Oreshnik against Bila Tserkva,” declared Volodymyr Zelensky. This area is located southwest of kyiv, 1,130 km from the missile launch site. “They are really crazy,” added the Ukrainian president. Videos posted on social media show that the missile deployed six submunition clusters, each deploying six submunitions, making 36 in total.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned the day before against preparations for a massive strike with possible use of this Oreshnik missile. The US Embassy in kyiv had also “received information regarding a potentially significant air attack that could occur at any time.”
What is the Oreshnik missile?
The Oreshnik, which means “hazel” in Russian, is an “intermediate range” ballistic missile that is capable of hitting targets between 3,000 and 5,500 kilometers away. It therefore does not fall into the category of intercontinental missiles which have a range of more than 5,500 km. According to Vladimir Putin, this hypersonic missile can reach the speed of Mach 10, “or 2.5 to 3 kilometers per second” (approximately 12,350 km/h). Equipped with multiple warheads which each follow an independent trajectory when entering the atmosphere, this missile would be all the more difficult to intercept, said the Russian president.
Statements that must be put into perspective, according to specialists. “The actual impact of this missile is likely relatively low due to limited terminal accuracy, offset by the use of 36 kinetic-only submunitions [non guidées]“, explains on X Etienne Marcuz, researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS). The Oreshnik is thus “a saturation weapon, intended only to deal with extended targets – cities, air bases, industrial sites…”
Furthermore, “Russia probably only has a small number of launchers and vectors, not allowing, in the short term, a prolonged strike campaign on the model of Iranian ballistic attacks. It is therefore above all a psychological weapon, at least in its conventional version, the Oreshnik being a weapon with dual capabilities that can be equipped with nuclear charges,” continues the expert.
Is this the first time that Russia has used this vector?
No, this is the third time, after the shootings in November 2024 and January 2026. On November 21, 2024, it hit a large military factory in the city of Dnipro, in central Ukraine. Moscow has since announced the start of its mass production and Belarus, a country allied to Russia, has indicated that it was deployed on its territory in mid-December 2025. On January 9, a new Oreshnik hit the Lviv region, in the west of the country, certainly targeting an underground gas deposit in this region located near the border with Poland.
A “strategic message sent to Westerners”
“France condemns this attack and the use of the Oreshnik ballistic missile, which above all signify a form of headlong flight and the impasse of Russia’s war of aggression,” Emmanuel Macron denounced this Sunday on X, stressing that “civilian objectives” were targeted. The Russian Defense Ministry claims to have only targeted military targets.
Rome also “strongly condemned” the use of this missile, as did the European Union, which denounced “a tactic of political intimidation and a reckless game with the edge of the nuclear precipice,” wrote the head of diplomacy of the EU Kaja Kallas.
Etienne Marcuz explains for his part that “the Kremlin is probably seeking to send a strategic message to Westerners, aiming to remind if necessary that Russia remains a great power, despite its disappointments in Ukraine.”
