Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy sounds warning after Russia strikes Kyiv with Oreshnik missile

Kyiv experienced a major missile and drone attack shortly after 1am, following an air force warning that Russia might launch a hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile. Explosions were reported across the city, with at least three injuries and damage to residential buildings in multiple districts including Shevchenkivsky, Dniprovsky, and Podilsky. Fires and debris were reported at a school in the city center. Kyiv’s military administration said the capital faced a mass ballistic missile attack. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that using Oreshnik sets a global precedent and called for a response from the world that is preventive rather than post-factum, urging pressure on Moscow to prevent war expansion. Russia has used Oreshnik before and Putin has claimed it is impossible to intercept.

"Explosions reverberated through the city shortly after 1am after the air force announced a threat of an Oreshnik launch on its Telegram channel. At least three people were injured and several residential buildings were damaged across the city, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. The capital has come under a mass ballistic missile attack, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said."

"There are currently reports of at least four locations affected by the attack: Shevchenkivsky, Dniprovsky and Podilsky districts. Fires and damage to residential buildings are preliminarily reported, he added. Debris was on fire on the premises of a school in the city centre, Klitschko said."

"Zelenskyy warned that the use of such weapons as the Oreshnik missile sets a global precedent for other potential aggressors. He added in a social media post: If Russia is allowed to destroy lives on such a scale, then no agreement will restrain other similar hatred-based regimes from aggression and strikes. We count on a response from the world and on a response that is not post factum, but preventive. Pressure must be put on Moscow so that it does not expand the war."

"On Saturday, Zelenskyy had warned Russia was preparing a strike against Ukraine using the Oreshnik missile, citing intelligence from Ukraine, the US and Europe. Their alerts came after Russian officials said the death toll from a Ukrainian strike on a college and its dormitory in a Russian-occupied town in eastern Ukraine had risen to 18. Ukraine's air force did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether an Oreshnik missile hit any target. Russia has already attacked Ukraine twice with the Oreshnik, a missile President Vladimir Putin has boasted is impossible to intercept"

Read at www.theguardian.com