Russia confirmed that it launched its hypersonic Oreshnik missile overnight at Ukraine, hitting a city near the Ukrainian border with Poland. The attack was delivered at the time when the diplomatic efforts to achieve a peace agreement seem to be at a standstill. Other analysts are of the opinion that the missile was used to threaten the European and Western allies of Ukraine. The Russian military claimed that the attack was a part of a wider attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and drone production plants in and around Kyiv. The operation was alleged to have been done in response to an alleged Ukrainian drone strike on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Novgorod in December. Though Ukraine has refuted the claim, and the United States president Donald Trump has also turned down the argument of Russia, But the war situations says the other story. The Ukrainian authorities themself reported that the strikes killed at least four people and injured at around 22 in Kyiv. Russia also targeted the critical infrastructure in the western city of Lviv with a ballistic missile of unknown origin that was traveling at about 13,000 kilometers per hour as reported by Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi and Ukraine Air Force. The proximity of attack with the border is being linked with the showcase of power to the EU and a straight disagreement to agree upon the peace talk initiatives.
The authorities indicated that they were still evaluating the nature of the missile employed during that attack. Russia claimed that the attack on Lviv had used the Hypersonic Oreshnik missile. The Oreshnik in Russian is a medium-range missile. Its several warheads come in trails of light, and resemble falling branches to the eye. Hypersonic missiles travel at velocities more than Mach 5 and can manoeuvre in flight, thus being hard to intercept. The Oreshnik is also nuclear capable, but not always fitted with a nuclear warhead. The Oreshnik has only been used once before, in November 2024, when Russia claimed to strike a Ukrainian military factory. Seeing onto steps in the war, it feels clear that the State in the war is not thinking into peaceful talk settlement or is afraid of western collective power to let down the war.