Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.Image: keystone
After Kiev’s recent attacks on Russian targets, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expects Moscow to retaliate with the particularly feared new Oreshnik medium-range missile. “Our intelligence services have received reports of data received, including from American and European partners, that Russia is preparing to strike with the Oreshnik missile,” Zelensky said on social media. The capital Kyiv is therefore also in danger.
Our intelligence services reported receiving data, including from American and European partners, about Russia preparing a strike with the Oreshnik missile. We are verifying this information.
We are seeing signs of preparation for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory,…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 23, 2026
Russia has already used the ballistic missile with particularly high destructive power twice in its war of aggression against Ukraine – once in the large city of Dnipro in the southeast of the country without warheads and most recently in January in western Ukraine.
Zelensky warned of a possible combined Russian attack using various types of weapons. “It is important to respond responsibly to air alarms from this evening,” he appealed to his compatriots. “Russian madness really knows no boundaries, so protect your life – use shelters.”
Zelensky calls on the world community to respond
At the same time, Zelensky called on the international community to take a “preventive response”. Zelensky did not say what exactly he meant by that. But reactions should not only be made after the fact, he explained. “Pressure must be exerted on Moscow so that it does not expand the war,” said Zelensky. Ukraine will prepare and respond to its air defense as much as possible.
“This war must end – we need peace, not missiles that satisfy the sick ambitions of an individual,” said Zelensky, referring to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, who has been waging a destructive war of aggression against the country for more than four years.
Response to fatal blow threatened against dormitory
Putin had called on his Defense Ministry to prepare a response to the Ukrainian attack on a dormitory in the city of Starobilsk in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region. According to Russian information, at least 18 students from a pedagogical institute died. The Ukrainian military stated that the target was a Russian military unit that specialized in drone attacks against Ukraine.
The Oreshnik missile (in German: Haselstrauch), also deployed in Belarus by Moscow, can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads. Their extremely high speed of up to 12,000 kilometers per hour and their range of up to 5,000 kilometers make them a potential danger for the entire European continent. (sda/dpa)