Following a Russian missile and drone assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the Kremlin announced that Kyiv government buildings may be next, potentially using a new hypersonic missile with a range that could reach the U.S. West Coast.
While previous Russian attacks haven’t targeted Kyiv’s command centers due to the city’s robust air defenses, Putin claims Russia’s Oreshnik hypersonic missile, first used against a Ukrainian city last week, is uninterceptable.
The Oreshnik’s deployment against Dnipro on November 21st, hitting an arms factory, was in response to Ukrainian strikes on a Russian facility in Bryansk two days prior using U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles, authorized by the U.S. government.
Russia alleges further ATACMS attacks on its Kursk region on November 23rd and 25th.
“We will respond to ongoing strikes on Russian territory using Western-made long-range missiles; this includes potentially further combat testing of the Oreshnik, as demonstrated on November 21st,” Putin stated at a security alliance meeting in Kazakhstan.
“The Ministry of Defense and General Staff are currently selecting targets within Ukraine. These could include military sites, defense and industrial facilities, or decision-making centers in Kyiv,” he added.
The Oreshnik’s technology, including sensors, electronics, and data acquisition, mirrors that of the Rubezh, a Russian solid-fueled intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM). With a range of 310 to 3,100 miles—near the lower limit of an ICBM—the Oreshnik can target much of Europe and the U.S. West Coast. It could potentially hit Britain within 20 minutes and Poland in 12 minutes after launch.
The Oreshnik can carry nuclear or conventional warheads and its hypersonic speed (Mach 11) makes interception extremely difficult with existing missile defense systems.
Putin boasted that Russia’s advanced missile production surpasses NATO’s tenfold, with plans for further increases.
These production plans and ongoing strikes suggest the conflict, already exceeding 1000 days, shows no signs of de-escalation.
On Thursday, Russia launched a large-scale aerial attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure using nearly 200 missiles and drones, leaving over a million homes without power across the west, south, and center of the country.
Explosions were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Lutsk, and other central and western Ukrainian cities. This was Russia’s second major attack on Ukraine’s power grid in under two weeks, with Putin citing it as a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory using longer-range American missiles.
The attack fueled concerns in Ukraine that Russia aims to cripple the country’s infrastructure before winter sets in.
Zelenskyy called the attack a “vile escalation,” noting the use of Kalibr cruise missiles with cluster munitions to deliberately target civilian infrastructure.
“The use of these cluster elements significantly complicates the work of our rescuers and power engineers in mitigating the damage, marking yet another vile escalation in Russia’s terrorist tactics,” Zelenskyy posted on X.
He urged Western nations to expedite promised air defense systems, echoing previous Ukrainian complaints about slow aid delivery.
This attack followed President-elect Trump’s nomination of Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg for a new position focused on the Ukraine conflict. Trump established this special envoy role.
Three sources informed Reuters that Kellogg presented Trump with a plan to end the conflict and co-authored a research document in April proposing using weapons supplied to Ukraine as leverage for armistice negotiations with Russia.
Rebekah Koffler, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.