KYIV — A large-scale Russian hypersonic missile attack has left four people dead and dozens more injured across Ukraine, according to Ukrainian emergency services and officials cited by international news agencies on May 25, 2026.
Russia’s defense ministry confirmed the deployment of a hypersonic missile — systems capable of traveling over 10 times the speed of sound — in the overnight barrage, marking at least the third such use of the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile since its first deployment against Ukraine earlier this year. The strikes targeted multiple population centers, officials said.
Ukrainian air defense systems intercepted a portion of the incoming weapons, but the hypersonic missile’s speed and trajectory presented significant challenges, according to military analysts monitoring the conflict. Rescuers searched through damaged residential buildings through the night, pulling survivors from collapsed structures in the capital and surrounding regions.
World leaders swiftly condemned the attack. The United Nations secretary-general called for an immediate cessation of strikes targeting civilian infrastructure, while European governments renewed calls for accelerated weapons deliveries to Kyiv. The Group of Seven nations scheduled an emergency virtual summit for Monday to coordinate the allied response.
The assault comes as diplomatic efforts to halt the wider conflict have stalled, with ceasefire negotiations showing no signs of progress entering the fourth consecutive week. Russian officials have rejected international calls to cease attacks on civilian areas, characterizing the strikes as proportional responses to what they describe as Ukrainian provocations.
Ukraine’s president, in a video address posted to social media, thanked emergency responders and called on Western allies to “act before more innocent lives are stolen by the same weapons that have no place in modern warfare.”
The death toll from Saturday’s barrage was expected to rise as search operations in the hardest-hit neighborhoods continued through Sunday morning.
