Russia escalated the war in Ukraine by launching a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, at western Ukraine near the Polish border, signaling a warning to Europe as peace negotiations gain momentum. The strike was part of a broader assault involving dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones, killing civilians and damaging infrastructure, especially in Kyiv, reports Andrew E. Kramer and Cassandra Vinograd of The New York Times. Ukraine and European leaders condemned the attack as a dangerous escalation and called for stronger international pressure and support, while Russia framed the strike as retaliation for a disputed claim of an attack on President Putin’s residence. They write:

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that it had struck western Ukraine with a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile, an ominous warning by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as U.S.-led negotiations to end the war have gained steam.

The attack was only the second time in the war that Moscow had fired that type of missile, known as the Oreshnik. The choice of western Ukraine — near the border with Poland, an E.U. and NATO member — as the target seemed intended to send a message to Europe as it strongly backs Kyiv in the settlement talks. […]

Explosions were reported early Friday near the western city of Lviv after the Ukrainian military warned of a potential missile launch from a Russian strategic nuclear testing site, the Kapustin Yar facility near the Caspian Sea. […]

The Russian Defense Ministry called the strike a response to an attempted Ukrainian attack last month on one of Mr. Putin’s residences in Russia. […]

The Oreshnik strike near Lviv, she said, was “a clear escalation against Ukraine and meant as a warning to Europe and to the U.S.” […]
The strike in 2024 hit an aerospace factory in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. It caused only minimal damage because it carried dummy warheads, suggesting a purely symbolic use of the weapon.

On Friday, the Ukrainian Air Force said that the threat of a launch came from Russia at about 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, before the explosions were heard in the Lviv region. The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, wrote in a post on social media that explosions had damaged infrastructure, but he did not offer specifics.

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