Russia launched one of the largest combined aerial attacks of the war against Kyiv and surrounding areas overnight on May 24, deploying approximately 90 missiles and 600 drones — including the nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile — killing at least four people and injuring roughly 100 [2][7][10]. The Oreshnik struck near Bila Tserkva in Kyiv Oblast, marking the weapon's third confirmed use since its debut in November 2024 and its first targeting of the Kyiv region [6][20]. Ukraine requested an emergency UN Security Council session, backed by six countries, to address the strike [30].

The attack inflicted widespread damage across the Ukrainian capital. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported damage in every district of the city, with at least two people killed and dozens hospitalized in Kyiv alone [7][11]. Falling debris and blast waves struck residential apartment buildings, schools, the Kyiv Municipal Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, the National Art Museum, the Chornobyl Museum, and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry — which Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said had been damaged for the first time since World War II [7][26][5]. Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko reported that the Cabinet of Ministers building sustained blast damage, though no staff were injured [11]. The Kyiv City Military Administration recorded 69 civilian casualties in the capital, with 36 hospitalized [36], though Mayor Klitschko's figures varied across reports, ranging from 56 to 81 injured [7][10][16].

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attackers as "genuinely deranged" and said the strikes hit water supply facilities, burned down a market, and damaged dozens of buildings [7]. "The largest number of missiles was directed at the capital — at ordinary residential buildings, at schools," he wrote, warning that the Oreshnik's use "also sets a global precedent for other potential aggressors" [14]. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko called the damage to the Chornobyl Museum "a deliberate attack on history, memory, and truth" [2], while Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna wrote that "Russia is systematically attacking civilian infrastructure and cultural institutions. Each such strike is an attempt to intimidate and destroy our identity" [7].

Russia's Defence Ministry confirmed the use of the Oreshnik alongside Iskander, Kinzhal, and Zircon missiles, stating the strikes targeted Ukrainian military command posts, airbases, and defense enterprises [2][16][34]. The ministry said the attack was carried out in retaliation for what Moscow described as Ukrainian "terrorist attacks" on civilian facilities in Russia, specifically a drone strike on a student dormitory in Starobilsk in the Luhansk region that Russia said killed 21 people [4][10]. Ukraine's military acknowledged conducting an operation in Starobilsk but maintained it struck an elite Russian drone military unit, denying it targeted civilians [2]. Russia invited media to view the aftermath of the Luhansk strike [18].

Dmitri Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, offered a Russian government counter-narrative, arguing that Ukraine deliberately provoked the attack to manufacture a crisis: "Ukrayna konusu dünya gündeminde geri plana düştüğü için Kiev rejiminin Batı'dan yine silah ve para kopartabilmek için provokasyona ihtiyacı vardı" (Because the Ukraine issue had faded from the world agenda, the Kyiv regime needed a provocation to extract more weapons and money from the West) [8].

European leaders condemned the attack in unified but specifically calibrated terms. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas described the Oreshnik's deployment as "a political scare-tactic and reckless nuclear-brinkmanship," adding that "Russia hit a dead end on the battlefield, so it terrorises Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centres" [7][14]. French President Emmanuel Macron called the strikes evidence of "the dead end of Russia's war of aggression" [7][12], while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his government "strongly condemns this reckless escalation" [4][16]. UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper stated that "Moscow's escalating assault on Ukrainian civilians betrays its weakness" [7]. Poland scrambled fighter jets in response to the attack, with NATO allies supporting airspace monitoring [41].

Military analysts offered divergent assessments of the Oreshnik's actual capability. Dr. Nah Liang Tuang, a research fellow at Singapore's RSIS, assessed its use as "classic sabre rattling" reflecting that Moscow is "out of options," while noting its MIRV design makes it "very destructive" even without nuclear payloads [3]. Ukrainian military expert Colonel Roman Svitan offered a sharper critique, calling the launch «очередным предсерийным испытанием: ракета еще сырая» (another pre-serial test: the missile is still raw) and stating that the warheads landed in open fields, suggesting the real target may have been Kyiv itself but the missile missed [13]. Polish analyst Marcin Andrzej Piotrowski noted that "unlike the hypersonic weapons, Oreshnik's warheads did not perform any manoeuvres at hypersonic speeds" [3].

The human toll extended beyond casualty figures. Kyiv resident Svitlana Onofryichuk told The Guardian it was "a terrible night and there has never been anything like it in the entire war," adding that she would leave the city because her livelihood had been destroyed [7]. Sofia Melnichenko, sheltering in the metro, described ceilings crumbling after a series of explosions: "There was complete chaos. Children started screaming, people were panicking" [12]. Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk, competing at the French Open, said through tears that a missile struck 100 meters from her parents' home that morning, adding that if the missile had struck any closer, she might have lost her mother and sister [19].

China's response stood apart from both Western condemnation and Russian justification. At the UN, Chinese Permanent Representative Fu Cong called on both Russia and Ukraine to stop attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure, urging compliance with international humanitarian law and dialogue toward a comprehensive peace agreement, while the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm reports of specific weapon use [31][32].

Zelenskyy called for immediate concrete action from allies: "Decisions are needed — from the United States, from Europe and others" [10]. Kallas announced that EU Foreign Ministers would discuss "how to dial up the international pressure on Russia" at their next meeting [20]. German military expert Nico Lange argued that Europe should respond by building new missiles and delivering Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine: "Wir lassen uns nicht einschüchtern und lassen uns nicht erpressen" (We will not be intimidated and will not be blackmailed) [23]. The emergency UN Security Council session and the upcoming EU foreign ministers' meeting are expected to shape the next phase of the international response [20][30].