Ukraine calls on allies to raise pressure as Russia fires Oreshnik missile

Kyiv labelled the use of the weapon close to the EU and NATO border a ‘grave threat’ to European security.Published On 9 Jan 2026Kyiv has called on its allies to increase pressure on Russia after Moscow used a newly developed missile in strikes on western Ukraine.Russia said on Friday that it had used the Oreshnik missile amid a barrage of overnight strikes on Kyiv and Lviv in western Ukraine. Kyiv labelled the use of the weapon close to the European Union and NATO border a “grave threat” to European security.Russia’s Ministry of Defence said the military has used the new intermediate-range ballistic missile among hundreds of other weapons in strikes that, according to Ukraine, killed four people and injured at least 22 in the capital.Game changer?Russia also struck critical infrastructure in Lviv using an unidentified ballistic missile, said Mayor Andriy Sadovyi.Ukraine’s Air Force later said the missile travelled at a speed of 13,000km/h (more than 8,000mph) and that the specific type of rocket was being investigated.Russia continues to target Ukraine’s cities and infrastructure in nightly missile and drone attacks (File: AFP)Moscow first fired an Oreshnik – Russian for hazel tree – against what it said was a military factory ‌in Ukraine in November 2024. On that occasion, Ukrainian sources said the missile was carrying dummy ‌warheads, not explosives, and caused limited damage.Putin has ⁠said that the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile is impossible to intercept because of speeds reportedly more than 10 times the speed of sound and that its destructive power is ‌comparable with that of a nuclear weapon, even when fitted with a conventional warhead.