On Saturday, both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the US embassy in Kiev issued warnings about the risk of a major Russian airstrike.
“We are seeing signs of preparation for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kiev, involving various types of weaponry” including the Oreshnik, a Russian nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, Zelenskyy said.
Kiev had anticipated the attack after its own forces launched a drone barrage in the Russian-controlled east, which Moscow said hit a college dormitory and killed at least 18 people.
Launched overnight on Thursday to Friday, the drone salvo—one of Ukraine’s deadliest such strikes in months—also wounded 42 in Starobilsk, in the occupied Luhansk region.
Most of those killed and missing were young women born between 2003 and 2008.
Ukraine denied targeting civilians, saying it had hit a Russian drone unit stationed in the Starobilsk area, which lies about 65 kilometres from the front line.
