Claims Emerge of Possible Oreshnik Missile Use in Strike Near Kyiv
Ukrainian media and online channels claimed on Sunday night that Russian forces targeted a location in the Kyiv region, specifically the town of Bila Tserkva. The reports included footage showing multiple bright objects descending rapidly through the sky. However, Russia’s Defense Ministry has not confirmed the deployment of any such system.
The alleged strike followed an order from Russian President Vladimir Putin directing the Defense Ministry to “submit proposals” in response to a Ukrainian drone attack on a dormitory at a teacher training facility in the Luhansk People’s Republic. That incident reportedly resulted in 21 deaths, most of them teenage girls, with 42 others injured.
In remarks cited in an interview, Ritter, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, said that “there’s at least one strike in the vicinity of Kiev that has the visual characteristics of an Oreshnik missile.”
He added that the pattern of the attack appeared consistent with earlier reported uses of the system, stating, “It’s precisely the same six separate deliveries of six submunitions, 36 in total, mimicking the previous confirmed Oreshnik use” in November 2024 in Dnipropetrovsk and January 2026 in Lviv.
Ritter suggested that the target may not have been central Kyiv but a nearby town with a military airfield that has reportedly been of interest to Russian forces in the past, implying that the site may have had strategic relevance.
“It’s clear... Russia is taking the promised action in response to the atrocities that happened in Lugansk,” he said.
He further described the dormitory attack as “an act of terror,” claiming it represented a serious escalation and criticizing what he called “the nefarious character of the Ukrainian government.”
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