The attack utilized a lethal combination of cruise missiles, ballistic weapons, and hundreds of loitering munitions. Most notably, Ukrainian officials confirmed that Russia deployed the "Oreshnik," a hypersonic, nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), against targets in the Lviv region near the Polish border. In Kyiv, the devastation was widespread; Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that the strikes ignited several high-rise fires and crippled the city's utility networks. Thousands of residents were left without water, electricity, or heating as temperatures plunged during a severe winter cold spell.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the barrage as "barbarism" and a direct rejection of recent diplomatic peace efforts. He emphasized that the targeting of energy facilities during sub-zero temperatures was a calculated attempt to break the resolve of the civilian population. Sybiha dismissed Moscow's justification for the attack—which the Kremlin claimed was retaliation for a supposed strike on President Putin's residence—as a "hallucination" designed to mask a campaign of terror. The strikes also reportedly caused collateral damage to foreign diplomatic property, including the Embassy of Qatar in Kyiv.
In the aftermath of the bombardment, the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office initiated a pre-trial investigation into potential war crimes under Article 438 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code. International partners are being briefed on the scale of the damage as Kyiv calls for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. The Ukrainian government has urged Western allies to respond with "unity and strength," calling for a fresh round of crippling sanctions to drain Moscow’s military resources and the immediate delivery of advanced air defense systems to protect the country's increasingly vulnerable energy grid.
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