The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has accused Russia of 'reckless nuclear brinkmanship' following a missile strike on Kyiv involving an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile. 'Russia hit a dead-end on the battlefield, so it terrorizes Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centres,' she wrote on X, adding that the use of systems designed to carry nuclear warheads was a political scare tactic.
The attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region killed at least four people and injured about 100. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strikes as 'genuinely deranged', noting that Kyiv had been hit hardest. The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reported that the WHO office in Kyiv had been damaged by debris, though no one was injured.
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul joined French President Emmanuel Macron in condemning the attack, describing the use of an Oreshnik missile as 'another escalation'. UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called scenes from Kyiv 'awful', stating that Moscow's escalating assault on civilians betrayed its weakness. Meanwhile, Macron warned Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko against involvement in the war, urging him to improve relations with Europe.
Ukraine's SBU security service said its drones attacked an oil pumping dispatch station in Russia's Vladimir region. The facility supplied fuel to major oil depots around Moscow and to three airports. A fire covering 800 square metres was recorded after the strike, but the regional governor later said it had been extinguished.
