Russia fired a new nuclear-capable ballistic missile with multiple warheads at western Ukraine as part of a barrage of missiles and drones that pounded Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, where at least four people were killed and dozens wounded.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on January 9 that the use of the missile, called the Oreshnik, was in response to an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in late December that Moscow said had targeted a residence used by President Vladimir Putin. Kyiv denied the allegation, and the CIA has also called it false.
Ukraine's air force had warned of an imminent launch of a missile from Russia's Kasputin Yar testing ground just before midnight. Later, it issued a statement saying a high-speed ballistic missile had been fired by Russia.
The US Embassy in Kyiv issued an unusual security alert late on January 8, suggesting Moscow may have notified US officials ahead of time as a way to avoid alarming Washington. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had also warned of a possible strike.
Damage or casualties from the missile strike was unclear. Multiple videos posted on Telegram and elsewhere by surveillance cameras in the western Lviv region appeared to show what appeared to be six objects streaking toward the ground. The Oreshnik is reportedly capable of carrying six warheads.
The Security Service of Ukraine released images of fragments from the missile it says was used in the attack, which is characterized as a "war crime."
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said critical infrastructure was hit and that emergency services were working at the scene.
It marks the second time Moscow has used the new missile in its war against Ukraine; the first was in November 2024. Putin has bragged about the capabilities of the weapon and last year said it was being deployed to Belarus, a close ally of Moscow.
"Such a strike close to [the] EU and NATO border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community," Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said in a post on X. "We demand strong responses to Russia's reckless actions."
Sybiha also announced that Ukraine would call an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council and a Ukraine-NATO Council meeting.
Zelenskyy called for "a clear reaction from the world."
"Above all from the United States, whose signals Russia truly pays attention to," he wrote in a post on X.
Putin "doesn't want peace, Russia's reply to diplomacy is more missiles and destruction," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
The missile strike was part of a barrage of drones and missiles that hit Ukrainian cities and towns overnight, including the capital, Kyiv.
At least four people died in the capital and more than 24 were wounded, officials said.
The Russian attack heavily damaged power transmission and generation facilities, leaving more than 500,000 people in Kyiv and the surrounding region without electricity, the Energy Ministry stated.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko warned that nearly 6,000 apartment buildings -- about half of Kyiv -- lacked heating after critical infrastructure was damaged.
He urged residents to temporarily leave Kyiv for areas with power and heating to do so, as temperatures were forecast to drop to around -17 degrees Celsius at night.
Russian strikes also hit the city of Kryviy Rih, in central Ukraine. The region has been struggling to recover from strikes that have cut off electricity and water supplies to hundreds of thousands of people.
At least 14 people were injured in Kryviv Rih, including two children, according to emergency officials.
Almost a dozen apartment buildings and infrastructure facilities were damaged. The strike on the city cut off power to several areas, including mines where people were working at the time.
According to the emergency service, seven miners who were trapped underground were evacuated from the mine.
Temperatures in Kryviy Rih, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhya have been hovering just above freezing for days now.
The Russians "are trying to exploit the harsh winter weather, which has worsened significantly across many of our regions and is causing serious problems on the roads and with utilities," Zelenskyy warned in in his nightly address.
Ukraine has stepped up its own aerial assaults on Russian target, firing an above-average number of drones over the first week of 2026.
In the Russian border region of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that more than half a million people were left without power or heating after region's utility infrastructure was hit. Nearly 200,000 people were also cut off from water supplies.
