In the massive Russian air strike against Ukraine on the night of May 24, 2026, Russia launched a medium-range ballistic missile "Oreshnik" on the city of Bela Tserkva (Kiev region), while simultaneously carrying out a large-scale combined attack with a total of 90 missiles and 600 drones, aimed mainly at the capital Kiev. According to official data, at least 4 people died in the attack in Kiev and the region, and over 80 were injured.
The rocket “Oreshnik“ was launched from the “Kapustin Yar“ test site in the Astrakhan region. Since it did not carry a nuclear charge, the main destruction was caused by the kinetic energy of its 6 separate blocks, containing a total of 36 submunitions.
The buildings of a local enterprise and a garage cooperative were hit and damaged. At the time of the initial reports in the Bela Tserkva region, material damage was mainly reported in industrial areas, but the strike was part of a wider wave that claimed victims in the region.
The attack with “Oreshnik“ was synchronized with dozens of other ballistic and cruise missiles (including “Kinzhal“ and “Zircon“). At least 4 people (two in the city of Kiev itself and two in the Kiev region). Over 80 people were injured in the region in total. In the capital, at least 56 people, 30 of whom are hospitalized (three in serious condition). Among the injured is a 15-year-old teenager.
In the Shevchenko district of the capital and in a local school, blast waves overwhelmed the entrances to bomb shelters, blocking citizens inside. Dozens of apartment buildings in districts such as Shevchenko, Dniprovsky and Podolsky were severely damaged. The facade of a 5-story residential building collapsed completely. The city market and shopping center were completely burned to the ground. Three missiles hit a water supply facility. The lobby of a metro station on the central square “Maidan“ was seriously damaged.
For the first time since World War II, the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine was hit. The windows of the National Art Museum and the “Ukrainian House“ were damaged. The Ukrainian air defense managed to intercepted and silenced a total of 604 out of 690 air targets (including 55 missiles and 549 drones), but the rest broke through the defenses, causing the capital's worst night of fighting since the beginning of the year. The Russian Defense Ministry said the strikes were “retaliation” for Ukrainian attacks in the Luhansk region.