UNITED NATIONS, New York – The United States on Monday (Tuesday, Manila time) decried Russia’s use of a nuclear-capable Oreshnik ballistic missile in Ukraine, calling it an “inexplicable escalation” during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
Russia’s use Friday of the intermediate-range missile, which was not carrying a nuclear warhead, “constitutes another dangerous and inexplicable escalation of this war, even as the United States is urgently working with Kyiv, other partners and Moscow to end the war through a negotiated settlement,” US Deputy UN Ambassador Tammy Bruce said.
“We condemn Russia’s continuing and intensifying attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities and other civilian infrastructure,” Bruce continued.
Moscow on Monday said the missile hit an aviation repair factory in the Lviv region, in western Ukraine, and that it was fired in response to Ukraine’s attempt to strike one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residences – a claim which Kyiv denies.
Ukraine confirmed the missile was fired on the Lviv region, close to the border with Poland, but did not say whether the plant was struck.
Acting British ambassador James Kariuki called the attack “reckless,” adding that “it threatens regional and international security and carries significant risk of escalation and miscalculation.”
In addition to deploying the Oreshnik missile on Friday, Russia pummeled the capital Kyiv with air strikes, killing at least four people and leaving half the city’s residential buildings without heating during below freezing winter temperatures.
A Russian attack on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed four people and wounded several others, the regional governor said Tuesday.
“The number of people killed in the enemy attack on the outskirts of Kharkiv has reached four,” Oleg Synegubov posted on Telegram.
He also said six people were wounded in the overnight hit.
White helmeted emergency workers could be seen clambering through the still-smoking wreckage of a building occupied by postal company Nova Poshta, in a video posted by the regional prosecutor’s office.
Within Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said a Russian long-range drone struck a medical facility for children, causing a fire. No casualties were reported.
The overnight strikes hit other regions as well, including southern city Odessa.
Residential buildings, a hospital and a kindergarten were damaged, with at least five people wounded in two waves of attacks, regional governor Sergiy Lysak said.
Moscow has pummeled Ukraine with daily drone and missile barrages in recent months, targeting energy infrastructure and cutting power in the frigid height of winter.
Russia’s use last week of a nuclear-capable Oreshnik ballistic missile on Ukraine sparked condemnation from Kyiv’s allies, including Washington, which called it a “dangerous and inexplicable escalation of this war”.
Moscow on Monday said the missile hit an aviation repair factory in the Lviv region and that it was fired in response to Ukraine’s attempt to strike one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residences — a claim Kyiv denies.
Three days after Sergiy Smolyak was ripped apart in a Russian drone attack, his granddaughter — wearing a pink winter snowsuit — sat in silence before his open coffin in a golden-domed cathedral in Kyiv.
The 56-year-old medic was cut down in the early hours of last Friday, as he rushed to rescue residents from a housing bloc Russia struck minutes earlier in a massive drone-and-missile attack on the Ukrainian capital.
“There is hardly a more noble profession than that of a medic, someone who, in one way or another, saves people’s lives,” the priest told hundreds of mourners, weeping, wearing black or clutching flowers at his funeral
Smolyak, who worked as a medic for more than 25 years, fled his home in the southern Kherson region when Russia invaded nearly four years ago.
“He was very kind, always calm and even-tempered. He saved so many people,” Ryta Dorosh, a nurse who worked with Smolyak before the war, said at his funeral on Monday.
“It’s a very great loss,” she told AFP.
Four other medics were wounded in the barrage of 242 drones and 36 missiles, which left half the capital without heating in freezing temperatures and spurred calls from the mayor for residents to leave temporarily.
Moscow said the attack was retribution for an alleged drone strike on a residence of Vladimir Putin, something Kyiv has denied and that the United States has suggested did not happen.
Apart from Smolyak, Kyiv says more than 500 Ukrainian medical workers have been killed since Russia invaded in February 2022.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of launching so-called “double-tap” strikes — a repeat attack on the same site shortly after a hit, specifically targeting first responders. It is a tactic experts say could constitute a war crime.
With incense hanging in the air, and sunlight illuminating gold-painted biblical murals on the cathedral walls, the priest urged mourners to help others, too.
“Above all, we must take it upon ourselves to join in the cause for which Sergiy suffered and gave his life,” the priest added, tears filling his eyes.
