• Multiple buildings damaged, including homes, schools, museums, theatres, and markets
• Zelensky describes attack as a ‘genuinely deranged’ strike on civilian infrastructure

KYIV: Russia pounded Kyiv with a massive bombardment that killed four people, authorities said Sunday, with Moscow unleashing its nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile in one of the largest barrages in the more-than-four-year war.

Multiple rounds of loud explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital throughout the early hours of the morning, AFP journalists reported, as residents took shelter in underground stations.

Daylight revealed rescue workers extinguishing fires and sifting through debris of heavily damaged buildings — houses, shopping centres, museums, theatres, schools and universities.

‘Genuinely deranged’

Kyiv has been grappling with an acute air defence missile deficit since the US-Israeli air campaign against Iran drove up demand for US-made Patriot rounds.

“Terror against civilians is not strength. It’s despair,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the strikes signalled “the dead end of Russia’s war of aggression”, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the use of Oreshnik a “reckless escalation”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged more action from allies. “I am grateful to everyone now expressing words of support. But concrete steps to bolster air defence are also needed,” he said on social media.

Russia’s army confirmed it had launched the Oreshnik at Ukraine.

Moscow denied targeting civilians, saying it had struck command posts of the Ukrainian army and intelligence. Four people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in Kyiv and the surrounding region, local officials said.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said damage had been recorded in every district of the capital.

The attack caused minor damage to Ukraine’s cabinet building and to the Foreign Ministry.

Kyiv’s national art museum and philharmonic hall, both in the heart of the city, were badly damaged, officials said, with many other historic buildings in the city centre also affected.

One of the strikes destroyed a newly opened museum commemorating the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster, eliciting angry words from Zelensky when he visited the scene.

At least two people were killed and another 81 wounded in the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

About 30 buildings in the city were damaged or destroyed, according to Zelensky.

The residence of the Albanian ambassador was also hit and the Balkan country summoned the Russian envoy in protest.

Buildings housing a studio of German broadcaster ARD and an office for German outlet DW were damaged as well, the companies said in statements. Both premises were empty of people at the time.

The head of the World Health Organisation said that its offices in Kyiv had been damaged by debris from Russian strikes, insisting that attacks on civilians must stop.

The previous two strikes had hit major cities, but Zelensky said this one had struck Bila Tserkva.

The attack devastated Luky­anivka, a district north of Kyiv’s city centre which is home to a missile plant. Many of the nearby apartment blocks and commercial buildings have been damaged repeatedly by Russian strikes throughout the war.

A shopping centre and a nearby market were gutted by flames.

Projectiles also hit other Ukrainian regions, with dozens of wounded reported in the Kharkiv, Cherkasy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2026