Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Russia may be preparing a strike on Ukraine using a hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile, warning Ukrainians to take air-raid alerts seriously as Kyiv sees signs of a wider attack. He said the warning was based on intelligence from Ukraine, the United States and Europe.
"We are seeing signs of preparation for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kyiv, involving various types of weaponry. The specified intermediate-range weapons could be used in such a strike," Zelensky said, adding that air-raid alerts could begin this evening and that people should use shelters. He also said intelligence services had received data from American and European partners about Russia preparing a strike with the Oreshnik missile and that the information was being verified.
The warning came after Moscow intensified its rhetoric over a deadly drone strike on a student dorm in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. On Friday, Vladimir Putin ordered his military to prepare options for retaliation. Ukraine denied responsibility for the attack, while Russian officials said on Saturday the death toll had risen to 16, with most of the victims young women. said it was not able to independently verify what happened at the dorm in Starobilsk.
The Oreshnik has already been used twice against Ukraine. Putin has boasted that the missile is impossible to intercept, saying it flies at more than 10 times the speed of sound. That claim has helped turn the weapon into a symbol of Russian escalation, and Zelensky used his warning to press partners in the United States and Europe on the wider stakes of its use, saying it would set a global precedent for other potential aggressors.
The immediate question now is whether Russia follows through with a strike that would push the war into even more dangerous territory, or whether Zelensky’s warning serves as a public signal that Ukraine and its allies believe a new round of escalation is already underway. For people in Kyiv, the advice was plain: treat the sirens as real.
