Russia Hits Bila Tserkva With Oreshnik Medium-Range Ballistic Missile in Massive Strike
The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed that Russian forces utilized an RS-26 Rubezh medium-range ballistic missile, commonly known as the Oreshnik, to strike the vicinity of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region during a massive overnight bombardment on May 24. Fired from the Kapustin Yar test range in Astrakh
Kyiv Post
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Russian forces executed a high-profile hypersonic escalation early Sunday morning, May 24, deploying an RS-26 Rubezh medium-range ballistic missile – publicized by Moscow as the “Oreshnik” – to strike the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region.
The implementation of the strategic system was officially confirmed by Colonel Yurii Ihnat, head of the Communications Department for the Ukrainian Air Force Command. The launch originated from the Kapustin Yar military test range in Russia’s southwestern Astrakhan region. The impact in the Bila Tserkva district was captured on localized surveillance feeds, showing multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles separating in the upper atmosphere to cause a rapid succession of ground-level explosions.
Investigative teams from the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office and specialized military forensic units deployed to the impact site early Sunday morning to recover material fragments and assess structural damage.
The deployment of the Oreshnik fulfilled urgent weekend intelligence warnings issued by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had cautioned that Western tracking networks detected immediate launch preparations at Kapustin Yar following a weeks-long diplomatic and military standoff in the Persian Gulf. The strike marks Russia’s third operational use of the platform since the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion, following an initial trial strike against Dnipro in November 2024 and a subsequent attack on the Lviv region in January 2026.
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An unprecedented scale of aerial saturation
The medium-range ballistic strike served as the kinetic centerpiece for an exceptionally dense, multi-vector saturation campaign aimed squarely at crushing the logistical and administrative infrastructure of the capital. According to a comprehensive morning update released by the Air Force Command, Ukrainian radar operators detected a total of 690 concurrent aerial assault weapons tracking through domestic airspace, comprising 90 missiles of varying classifications and 600 strike drones.
The diverse Russian strike package required the simultaneous activation of multiple launch points stretching from the Crimean peninsula to mainland Russian military hubs. Beyond the single Oreshnik platform, the Kremlin deployed two MiG-31K-launched Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles from Lipetsk alongside three 3M22 Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missiles fired from mobile launchers in occupied Crimea and the Kursk region.
These high-velocity assets were synchronized with 30 ground-launched Iskander-M and S-400 ballistic missiles and 54 air- and sea-launched cruise missiles, including Kh-101 and Kalibr variants. To complicate defensive tracking loops, Russia flanked these missile groups with a fleet of 600 Shahed attack drones, augmented by low-cost Gerbera, Italmas, and Parodiya radar decoys.
Defense forces intercept 604 targets
Ukrainian air defense networks, combining tactical fighter wings, anti-aircraft missile units, specialized electronic warfare (EW) squads, and mobile fire groups, managed to neutralize the vast majority of incoming vectors. Consolidated data valid as of 9:30 a.m. local time confirmed that defenders successfully shot down or electronically suppressed 604 individual targets, yielding an overall interception matrix of 55 missiles and 549 drones across the country.
The localized defensive breakdowns nevertheless caused substantial urban damage due to the raw volume of the attack. While air shield units knocked out 44 cruise missiles and 11 Iskander-class ballistic trajectories, at least 16 missiles and 51 kamikaze drones breached terminal defense lines, recording direct hits or severe falling debris damage across 54 distinct municipal locations.
The primary weight of the unintercepted munitions fell upon civilian neighborhoods inside the city limits of Kyiv, where a five-story residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district suffered near-total structural collapse and an upper-level fire razed a 24-story residential complex in the Solomyanskyi district, leaving two civilians dead and dozens hospitalized.
An additional 19 Russian missiles failed to reach their planned coordinates due to internal guidance failures or technical glitches, with regional emergency services currently tracking their rural impact craters to ensure civilian safety.
