Ukraine calls on allies to raise pressure as Russia fires Oreshnik missile 

Kyiv has called on its allies to increase pressure on Russia after Moscow used a newly developed missile in strikes on western Ukraine.

Russia said on Friday that it had used the Oreshnik missile amid a barrage of overnight strikes on Kyiv and Lviv in western Ukraine. Kyiv labelled the use of the weapon close to the European Union and NATO border a “grave threat” to European security.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said the military has used the new intermediate-range ballistic missile among hundreds of other weapons in strikes that, according to Ukraine, killed four people and injured at least 22 in the capital.

Game changer?

Russia also struck critical infrastructure in Lviv using an unidentified ballistic missile, said Mayor Andriy Sadovyi.

Ukraine’s Air Force later said the missile travelled at a speed of 13,000km/h (more than 8,000mph) and that the specific type of rocket was being investigated.

Moscow first fired an Oreshnik – Russian for hazel tree – against what it said was a military factory ‌in Ukraine in November 2024. On that occasion, Ukrainian sources said the missile was carrying dummy ‌warheads, not explosives, and caused limited damage.

Putin has ⁠said that the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile is impossible to intercept because of speeds reportedly more than 10 times the speed of sound and that its destructive power is ‌comparable with that of a nuclear weapon, even when fitted with a conventional warhead.

Some Western officials have expressed scepticism, suggesting that the weapon is not seen as a game-changer on the battlefield.

‘Reckless’

The Defence Ministry in Moscow said that the attack was in retaliation for a Ukrainian drone strike on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence last month.

Ukraine and United States President Donald Trump have both rejected the Russian claim of the attack on Putin’s residence.

The ministry said the latest strike also involved other ground and sea-launched missiles to target Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.

“Such a strike close to [the] EU and NATO border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community. We demand strong responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on social media.

‘Axis of war’

Ukraine’s appeal to raise the pressure on Russia comes as it continues to discuss efforts to end the nearly four-year-long war with European and United States allies.

An agreement was reached this week that Europe would deploy troops after any ceasefire, but Russia on Thursday rejected the plan.

Such troops would be “considered legitimate military targets”, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned, branding Ukraine and its allies an “axis of war”.