UKRAINE has slammed Vladimir Putin’s nuclear-capable missile strike as a “war crime” – with Volodymyr Zelensky urging Donald Trump to make a “clear reaction” in response to the barbaric attack.
Russia unleashed the “unstoppable” 8,000mph rocket in Lviv over Thursday night – with the hypersonic weapon seen lighting up the night sky in terrifying footage.
Zelensky said: “A clear reaction from the world is needed.
“Above all from the United States, whose signals Russia truly pays attention to.”
The embattled wartime leader added: “Russia must receive signals that it is its obligation to focus on diplomacy, and must feel consequences every time it again focuses on killings and the destruction of infrastructure.”
Downing Street said that France, Germany and the UK collectively condemned the strikes, branding them “escalatory and unacceptable”.
“It was clear Russia was using fabricated allegations to justify the attack,” Sir Keir Starmer told his French and German counterparts, according to No 10.
The SBU, Ukraine’s intelligence service, said they had recovered fragments of the horrifying missile, which they described as the “brains” of the weapon.
They also announced they were treating the blitz – which marks the second time in history Russia has used the Oreshnik – as a “war crime”.
Kyiv said they had recovered parts of the bomb which will be classified as evidence and used as intelligence on the cutting-edge Oreshnik missile.
Putin’s latest savage strike also targeted civilian infrastructure, not military units, according to local investigators.
Authorities have opened a war crimes case under Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, which covers violations of the laws and customs of war.
The horror blitz came just hours after Russian tyrant Putin rejected a Trump-backed peace plan to end the war.
At least four people were killed and 25 injured in Kyiv following overnight strikes across the country.
The dreaded Oreshnik struck the city of Lviv, just 40 miles from the border with Nato member Poland in western Ukraine – sparking outrage and panic in Kyiv.
Chilling footage showed the 8000mph missile lighting up the night sky as it thundered into the ground.
The rocket blasted into the edge of space before splitting into multiple warheads that hurtled into the earth’s atmosphere at breakneck speed.
The hypersonic weapon – which has only been used by Putin once before – was aimed at Europe‘s largest underground gas storage facility in Stryi.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said: “Such a strike near the borders of the EU and Nato poses a serious threat to the security of the European continent and is a test for the transatlantic community.”
The Oreshnik, which translates to “hazelnut tree”, was fired from Astrakhan region, deep inside Russia, and took less than 15 minutes to explode over Lviv.
It comes after a separate Oreshnik was deployed to Belarus in December, where, if launched, it would have been capable of striking London in just eight minutes.
Overall, Moscow launched 242 drones and 36 missiles – including the horrifying nuclear-capable weapon – in the latest Ukraine assault.
Massive attacks were reported in Kryvyi Rih, Volodymyr Zelensky‘s hometown.
The overnight strike marks the second time in history Putin has launched the haunting Oreshnik missile.
In November 2024, the terrifying rocket pierced through Ukrainian defences in Dnipro and dropped a cluster-bomb of warheads in an unprecedented attack.
After its first ever launch, the bomb was condemned as “insane” by Ukraine and “depraved” by the UK.
Moscow said they deployed the Oreshnik on Friday in response to a Ukrainian bid to kill Putin with a strike on his palace at Valdai in Novgorod region last month.
Ukrainian and Western intelligence say no such attack on the Russian tyrant’s fortress ever took place.
The Kremlin said: “The Russian Armed Forces launched a massive strike using long-range, land- and sea-based precision weapons, including the Oreshnik medium-range ground-mobile missile system, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), against critical targets in Ukraine.”
Putin claims his “unstoppable” Oreshnik missile can incinerate targets, unleashing temperatures of 4,000 degrees – almost as hot as the surface of the sun.
What is the Oreshnik?
THE Oreshnik is Putin’s intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that travels at Mach 10, making interception nearly impossible.
The rocket can strike targets up to 5,000 km away, covering much of Europe.
It carries up to six independently targeted warheads.
The weapon was first used in Dnipro Ukraine in November 2024 (pictured), marking its battlefield debut.
It is designed to dodge missile defences with unpredictable flight paths.
The Oreshnik could be armed with nuclear warheads, increasing its strategic threat.
The missile can reach up to 4,000 degrees Celsius.
Its code name, Oreshnik, means hazel tree in Russian.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies the missile was derived from the RS-26, an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
It is believed to have a warhead that splits into multiple projectiles during its final descent – causing several huge blasts just moments apart.
Putin is thought to have 10 in his arsenal and boasted he could use them to turn Ukraine “to dust”.
The latest blitz came just hours after the US embassy issued a stark warning to its citizens in Kyiv.
It said they should “prepare to shelter immediately” as a “significant air attack may occur at any time in the next several days”.
Ukrainian air defence systems downed 226 drones and 18 missiles across the country, according to Kyiv.
