Russia fires Oreshnik hypersonic missile at Kyiv in mass drone and missile attack, killing at least two

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram that the Oreshnik struck the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region; the intended target was not immediately clear. Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed it used the Oreshnik alongside Iskander, Kinzhal and Zircon missiles, describing the targets as Ukrainian "military command and control facilities," air bases and military industrial enterprises. In a separate statement hours later, the ministry said no civilian sites were targeted in the overnight strike on Ukraine.

Russia described the attack as retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on "civilian facilities on Russian territory." The context cited by Moscow was a drone strike on a college dormitory in Russian-occupied Starobilsk, in the Luhansk region, which killed 21 people and wounded 42. At a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting held at Russia's request, Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Melnyk denied war crimes accusations from his Russian counterpart, describing them as a "pure propaganda show" and stating that the May 22 operations "exclusively targeted the Russian war machine."

Ukraine's Air Force reported that air defenses destroyed or jammed 549 of 600 drones and 55 of 90 missiles, with around 19 missiles failing to reach their targets. Zelenskyy said not all ballistic missiles were intercepted and that most strikes hit Kyiv, the primary target. The Associated Press reported that the attack underscored Ukraine's chronic shortage of air defense interceptor missiles capable of downing ballistic weapons, and that developing a domestically produced alternative has become a priority for Ukraine's Defense Ministry. The AP also noted Russia may have sought to deplete Ukraine's limited interceptor stocks ahead of a potentially more intense wave of attacks this summer.