Moscow and Kyiv traded their heaviest blows in months on Sunday, May 25, as Russia bombarded the Ukrainian capital with a massive wave of missiles and drones — a barrage that killed four people, injured at least 83 others, and sent the city’s air defenses into overdrive for hours.
According to Ukraine’s air force, Russia launched the combined assault starting at 6:30 p.m. on May 23, involving 600 attack drones and 90 missiles of various types, fired from air, sea, and land platforms. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed two people were killed in the city itself, with 56 injured — 30 of them hospitalized. Two more were killed in the surrounding Kyiv region. Air defenses managed to intercept 549 drones and 55 missiles, the air force said. Not enough.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian missiles struck local water supply infrastructure and triggered fires across several markets, while dozens of residential buildings and multiple schools were damaged. The dead included residents in their homes.
The Oreshnik Returns
Perhaps most notably, Russia confirmed it deployed the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile — a hypersonic weapon capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads — as part of the barrage. This was the third known use of the Oreshnik, after previous strikes in November 2024 and January 2026. There was no indication the latest payload was nuclear, but the message was loud and clear: Russia is not pulling back from its most powerful conventional options.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted “military command and control facilities, air bases, and military industrial enterprises.” Ministry officials told state media no civilian sites were intentionally targeted — a claim Ukraine and Western officials have repeatedly disputed.
The College Dormitory That Started It
The escalation came less than 48 hours after President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation on May 21, denouncing a Ukrainian drone strike on a college dormitory in Starobilsk, Luhansk, which killed 21 people and wounded 42 others. Putin said there were no military or law enforcement facilities near the college. He ordered the Russian Defense Ministry to prepare retaliatory strike plans — and those plans materialized Sunday night into 600 drones and 90 missiles over Kyiv.
The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting on Friday. Russia accused Ukraine of war crimes; Ukraine called the accusation baseless. Several countries called for independent access to the Starobilsk site. UN officials condemned all attacks on civilians without exception.
Luhansk authorities declared two days of mourning on Sunday and Monday.
Ukraine Fires Back
Ukraine did not sit idle. Its military said it struck an oil loading dock at the Tamanneftegaz terminal in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai region overnight, damaging an oil loading arm. Zelensky also said forces hit a large chemical plant in Russia’s Perm region. The previous day, falling debris from drones triggered a fire at an oil terminal in Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, injuring two people. Ukraine’s military said it had targeted the Sheskharis oil terminal and nearby Grushova oil depot.
Both sides have now entrenched a grim pattern: infrastructure targeting, civilian casualties on both sides, and no end in sight.
Bottom line: The world is watching the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Kyiv is burning again. And the Oreshnik just got used for the third time.
Four dead, 83 injured, and more than 600 drones. The math of Russia’s latest attack on Kyiv tells you everything you need to know about how serious the Oreshnik era has become — and how far air defenses still have to go.
— Mr. White