Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the U.S. Embassy in Kiev warned on Saturday about the risk of a large-scale Russian air strike in the coming hours.
Their alert came after Russian officials said the death toll from a Ukrainian attack on a university and its dormitories in a Russian-occupied town in eastern Ukraine had risen to 18.
“Our intelligence services reported receiving data on Russia’s preparations for an attack using Oreshnik missiles, a Russian nuclear warhead device, including from U.S. and European partners,” Zelensky said in a social media post.
Zelensky said they were checking the information, adding: “We are seeing signs of preparations for a coordinated strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kiev, involving a variety of weapons.”
Zelensky appealed to the international community: “Pressure must be exerted on Moscow to prevent it from expanding the war.”
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said it had “received information about a potentially significant airstrike that could occur at any time within the next 24 hours.”
It said in a message posted on its website that its alert targeted all regions of Ukraine.
Last week, the Russian military conducted a three-day nuclear weapons drill across the country involving thousands of soldiers.
Russia has deployed Oreshnik missiles to its neighboring ally Belarus, which borders Ukraine and three NATO members: Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
Both Zelensky and the U.S. Embassy in messages called on their citizens to seek shelter in the event of an air warning.
So far, Russia has used conventional warheads to attack Ukrainian Oreshnik missiles twice: once in November 2024, against a military factory;
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised a military response after Ukrainian drones launched deadly attacks on Starobirsk in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region on Thursday and Friday.
Kiev denied targeting civilians and said it struck a Russian drone force stationed in the Starobirsk region.
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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
