EU LEADERS HAVE condemned Russia for its use of a nuclear-capable oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile in massive overnight attacks on Ukraine that killed four people.

The overnight attacks were one of the largest barrages in the more than four-year-long war.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday condemned the strikes on “civilian targets” and use of the missile, saying they signalled “the dead end of Russia’s war of aggression”.

Meanwhile, German chancellor Friedrich Merz called the use of oreshnik a “reckless escalation”.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Sunday that Russia was seeking to “terrorise Ukraine” with the bombardment and described the use of oreshnik as a “scare-tactic”.

“Russia hit a dead end on the battlefield, so it terrorises Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centres,” Kallas wrote on X.

“Moscow reportedly using Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missiles – systems designed to carry nuclear warheads – is a political scare tactic and reckless nuclear-brinkmanship,” she added.

Minister for Defence Helen McEntee also condemned the attacks: “I strongly condemn Russia’s massive and indiscriminate missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities last night,” she said on X.

“The deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime. Russia again shows utter disregard for Ukrainian lives and human decency. It has no interest in peace.”

Multiple rounds of loud explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital throughout the early hours of the morning as residents took shelter in underground stations.

Daytime scenes across the capital showed rescue workers extinguishing fires and sifting through debris of heavily damaged buildings: houses, shopping centres, museums, theatres, schools and universities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier threatened retaliation for Ukrainian strikes in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine that killed 21 people in a vocational school.

Sofia Melnychenko (21) thought she was safe in the subway, “but then there were three loud explosions, and after the fourth one the ceiling in the metro started crumbling,” she said.

“It was a very frightening night,” she added.

The Ukrainian air force said the raid involved 600 drones and 90 missiles, of which 549 drones and 55 missiles were intercepted.

Kyiv has been grappling with an acute air defence missile deficit since the US-Israeli air campaign against Iran drove up demand for US-made Patriot rounds.

With additional reporting from AFP.