Fire engulfs a residential area in Kyiv following a powerful Russian missile strike. Photo, Genya Savilov.
Russia on Wednesday vowed retribution against Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of firing Western-supplied missiles on a military airfield in its southern Rostov region.
President Vladimir Putin has previously threatened to launch a hypersonic ballistic missile at the center of Kyiv if Ukraine did not halt its attacks on Russian territory using US-supplied ATACMS missiles.
And one US official on Wednesday said that Russia might soon target Ukraine with another of its new Oreshnik missiles.
Hours after Ukraine’s overnight attack, Russia claimed its troops had recaptured territory in its western Kursk region, where Ukraine occupies swathes of territory.
And Putin told Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban that Kyiv’s “destructive” approach made a peace deal impossible.
Kyiv has been on edge since Russia fired its nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile at the city of Dnipro last month in a major escalation of the nearly three-year conflict.
Putin called that retaliation for Kyiv firing US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow long-range missiles against targets on Russian territory.
In the latest attack, Russia’s defense ministry on Wednesday said that Ukraine fired six ATACMS missiles at a military airfield in the port city of Taganrog.
“Two of the missiles were shot down by the combat crew of the Pantsir air defence system, while the others were deflected by electronic warfare equipment,” the ministry added.
It said no military personnel were hurt but that falling shrapnel “slightly damaged” military vehicles and buildings nearby.
“This attack by Western long-range weapons will not go unanswered and appropriate measures will be taken,” it added.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Russia has signalled its intent to launch another experimental Oreshnik missile at Ukraine.”
The US warning was “based on an intelligence assessment that it’s possible that Russia could use this Oreshnik missile in the coming days,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier hailed “tangible blows against Russian targets last night,” which he said would help bring peace closer.
In a post on Telegram, he said Ukraine had hit “military facilities on the territory of Russia, as well as facilities of the fuel and energy complex, which is working for aggression against our state and people.”
Ukraine’s general staff earlier claimed it had hit an oil depot in Russia’s Bryansk border region, also in an overnight strike.
Videos purportedly taken in the Bryansk region showed a distant fireball illuminating the night sky over an urban area, while air raid sirens could be heard in footage from the southern Rostov region.
Both sides have ramped up aerial attacks in recent weeks, seeking to boost their positions on the battlefield as ceasefire talks build ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump coming to power next month.
Ukrainian officials on Wednesday said that the death toll from a Russian missile strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia a day earlier had climbed to nine.
And Russia’s army said it had recaptured two villages in the western Kursk region, where Kyiv has been waging a cross-border offensive since August.
Hungary’s Orban, who met Trump in Florida earlier this week, held a call with Putin on Wednesday, drawing scorn from Kyiv.
During the call — which was requested by Orban — Putin said that Ukraine had adopted a “destructive” position that ruled out any agreement between Moscow and Kyiv.
The Kremlin said Orban had “expressed interest in assisting the joint search for political-diplomatic paths to resolve the crisis.”
Orban later claimed that Zelensky was the one who had ruled out any imminent ceasefire.
“We proposed a Christmas ceasefire and a large-scale prisoner exchange. It’s sad that President Zelensky clearly rejected and ruled this out today. We did what we could,” Orban wrote on the X social media platform.
Kyiv was quick to deny that claim.
“As always, the Hungarian side did not discuss anything with Ukraine,” presidential aide Dmytro Lytvyn said in a statement.
Zelensky also blasted Orban for talking to the Kremlin leader, saying it risked undermining European unity against Russia.
“No one should boost (their) personal image at the expense of unity, everyone should focus on shared success. Unity in Europe has always been key to achieving it,” Zelensky said on X.
