Russia Hit Kyiv… Ukraine’s Overnight Revenge Was DEVASTATING

The war in Ukraine has seen a dramatic escalation over the past week.Ukraine has significantly upped the tempo of its operations both on the front lines and in the air, and appears to have hit a serious nerve inside Russia.A massive Russian strike on several Ukrainian cities using a record number of drones and missiles was answered immediately, by a major Ukrainian strike on Moscow and multiple other regions.But the Ukrainians have also been intensifying their strikes on Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.And it's one of those strikes in the town of Starobilsk in occupied Luhansk that's really got under Russian skin.In response, Russia launched one of its most severe strikes on Kiev in May and has threatened to hit even harder in the near future.

But continuing the one -upmanship, Ukraine responded with a devastating strike of its own.and now Ukraine and the world are bracing themselves for what comes next.Thanks to Ukraine's devastating response, the stakes in this war have arguably never been higher.Here's the full story of what Ukraine did and what might happen next.The strike on Starobilsk on the night of May 22nd -23rd was one of the many that have been tormenting the occupied territories over recent weeks.Ukraine seems to have established a major kill zone along the crucial M14 highway.

It's the primary logistics route in the occupied territory, running east -west and connecting the Russian mainland with Crimea.But what used to be considered a road of life has turned into a road of death.Footage shows dozens of military vehicles, oil tankers and other vehicles burning or burnt out alongside the road.The road, known as the R2 -80 in Russia, became so dangerous that Vladimir Saldo, the Russian occupation head of Kherson Oblast, was forced to issue a decree restricting freight vehicle movement on a sizable section of the road.But the strikes in the occupied territories certainly didn't end there.On May 20th, Robert Brovdy, the commander of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces, reported that his unit

had hit a Russian drone pilot training camp in the occupied town of Snizna.He claimed that at least 65 cadets and an instructor had been killed as a result.The following day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that another set of strikes had hit a Russian security service headquarters and an air defense system in the Kherson region in occupied Ukraine, killing and wounding almost 100 Russians.According to Ukraine's General Staff, between May 25th and 26th, Ukrainian forces also struck a Russian command post in Ocheretina in Donetsk Oblast and a regional command post in Verkhnia -Khrunitsia in Zaporizhia Oblast.Ground control stations used by Russian forces near Nestoryanka in Zaporizhia and Novorodivka in Donetsk Oblast were also reportedly hit.But the Ukrainians were just getting started.

They also struck a Russian drone warehouse and logistics depot near Novopetrivka, another logistics warehouse in the city of Donetsk, and a railway fuel tanker near Debaltseve, all in Donetsk Oblast.Ukrainian forces also claimed a successful strike on a Russian 1L125 Niobe -SV radar station near Yarsk in Luhansk Oblast on May 24.Although unreported in Western media, Russian media also claims an unprecedented attack on the town of Enhadar, home of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant on May 27th.The plant's communications director, Yevgenia Yashina, told Russian media that at least 50 explosions had been reported, leaving communications disrupted and part of the city without power.So clearly the occupied territories have been getting hammered and the Russians have been feeling the pain.But it's the Ukrainian strike on the town of Starobilsk in Luhansk on May 22nd that has really got the Russians goped.

That's probably an understatement of the mood in Russia following the strike.In fact, in many respects, this strike could turn out to be their butcher.As you probably recall, Russia had occupied the town of Butcher, located on the outskirts of Kiev.during its initial march on Kiev in March 2022.After they withdrew, Ukrainian forces found hundreds of dead civilians in the streets, basements and mass graves.Victims were often found with their hands bound behind their backs and gunshot wounds to the head.

The incident triggered global outrage and accelerated international support for Ukraine.But perhaps more importantly, it galvanized national unity and support for the Ukrainian government and forces to resist the Russian invasion, arguably more than any other single event in the early stages of the war.Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, Russia denied the claims.President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and even Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko labeled it as a fake attack.But now in Starobilsk, in many ways, the roles are reversed.Ukraine claims that it hit a headquarters of the elite Russian drone unit Rubicon in the vicinity of the town.

The general staff said it was just one of multiple strikes carried out on military targets that evening.But that's not what the Russians reported.In fact, far from it.The Russians claim that this was a cold -blooded strike on a teacher's training college that left 21 dead and dozens injured.The majority of those, they said, were students, teenage girls aged 14 to 18.They say that Ukrainian drones first hit a dormitory where the girls were sleeping, then followed up with several waves of drones, 16 in total, targeting the survivors and those trying to rescue them.

Footage of the site indeed shows multiple destroyed buildings at the Starobilsk College of Luhansk Pedagogical University, including what appears to be a five -story dormitory building in ruins, following a heated and frankly deeply unsavory UN Security Council session called by Russia to discuss the attack.

European nations like Denmark and Latvia flatly rejected the Russian account.In response, the Russians organized a trip for foreign journalists to the site.

According to the foreign ministry, the BBC, CNN and all Japanese media declaredthe invitation for various reasons.Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has subsequently accused CNN of filming the preparation of the strike, based on a report by the channel's correspondent Nick Patton -Walsh.However, 50 journalists from 19 countries reportedly did make the trip.From the resultant footage, there's no discernible evidence of any military facilities on the site.At this point, it's very difficult to say what actually happened.

Perhaps we'll never know.What's indisputable, however, is that the Russian response has been unprecedented, at least in terms of the war in Ukraine.Russian media has been laying it on thick, with blanket coverage highly reminiscent of the aftermath in Butcher.It's fair to say that the nation is shocked and outraged, not just at the strike, but because they claim Ukraine mocked the tragedy afterward.The impact of Ukraine's accelerating strikes on Russian infrastructure, the unprecedented attack on Moscow the previous week, and growing financial worries had already worsened the mood in the country considerably, particularly in the capital.But the Starobelsk attack seems to have crossed some kind of national psychological red line.

In short, they want blood, and the pressure has ratcheted up several levels on Putin to respond forcefully.Putin called the attack a terrorist strike.He insisted there had been no military facilities, intelligence service facilities, or related services in the vicinity.Therefore, there is absolutely no basis for claiming that the munitions struck the building as a result of our air defense or electronic warfare systems." More ominously, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the May 22nd strike had pushed the war past a breaking point and warned that Russia's patience was now exhausted.Putin reportedly asked his military to present proposals for a retaliatory strike, and it soon arrived.

The following evening, Russia launched one of the heaviest strikes on Kiev and other areas to date.Ukraine's air force said altogether 90 missiles and 600 drones had been detected.It said that early data showed 55 ballistic and cruise missiles.549 drones were shot down or intercepted, while 19 missiles may not have reached their targets.However, they acknowledged that there were 16 direct missile and 51 drone hits in 54 locations.Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat appeared to contradict those interception rates.

We really had a serious attack.90 missiles, 600 drones, almost all of them in the capital.So this is really a problem, he said.From the circulating footage, there's very little evidence of air defense activity over the city during the attack.However, it's of course possible that air defenses were more successful in other regions attacked.Cherkassy, Kharkiv, Odessa, Poltava, Sumy, and Zhytomyr.

The Russians also appear to have included at least one strike with the much -discussed supposed Russian superweapon, the Oreshnik.Zelensky confirmed the evidence from circulating geolocated footage that an Oreshnik hit the town of Bylosekva in the Kiev region.Various clips of the strike emerged, with one intriguingly geolocated to the city of Donetsk instead.Based on that footage, a second strike seems to have taken place in the north of Donetsk, somewhere along the line that passes from the city through Donetsk and eastern Kharkiv oblasts into Russia's Belgorod region.Other reports claim that a second Oreshnik was fired, but failed, crashing somewhere inside Russia or the occupied territories.This is the kind of insight you're not going to find on any old military channel on YouTube.

If you want the daily scoop on the most important stories and why they matter, click the subscribe button.Now, it's unclear what exactly the Russians hit in Byelorussia and whether it was the intended target.There is an airfield near the impact site and an industrial zone that may house military facilities.But on the face of it, they appear to have struck civilian agricultural and industrial facilities and only done superficial damage.Nevertheless, the use of the Oreshnik drew sharp condemnation from European leaders.French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the strike as a signal of the dead end and impasse of Russia's war of independence.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz labelled the attack a reckless escalation and affirmed that Germany remains firmly at Ukraine's side.And Kaya Kalas, the EU's foreign policy chief, described its use as a political scare tactic and reckless nuclear brinkmanship.The Oreshnik is primarily intended as a nuclear weapon, but its payload of six missiles, each releasing six submunitions, can only be used as a purely kinetic weapon, with no warhead attached at all.Putin has previously claimed that the special materials used in its construction burn almost as hot as the surface of the sun, and that the missiles could penetrate deep into fortified structures as a result.The strike on Byelorussia was non -nuclear.No mushroom cloud or radiation was recorded, but the nuclear threat that Kallas referenced is clear.

The Russian message is that the next Oreshnik strike could be carrying nuclear warheads.And at this point, there's no evidence that Ukraine, or indeed anyone else, has air defenses that can stop it.But the Oreshnik was far from the only type of missile used during the attack.According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the strikes were carried out using Oreshnik, Iskander, Kinzhal, and Sirkon missiles, as well as air, sea, and ground -based cruise missiles and attack drones.They claim to have struck command posts of Ukraine's Ground Forces Main Command, the main intelligence directorate of the Defense Ministry, and other Ukrainian command posts, as well as unspecified military infrastructure.

As they always do, they also claimed no civilian objects were targeted.But the evidence strongly suggests otherwise.

Residential buildings, shopping centers, and emergency services buildings were reportedly struck.Zelensky said four people had been killed and 100 injured in total.A water supply facility was also attacked and the Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv had been effectively destroyed.Ukraine's Interior Minister, Ihor Klimenko, called the attack on the museum, a deliberate attack on history, memory and truth.Earlier, Kyiv's Mayor, Vitaly Klimenko,reported that a person was killed after a nine -story residential building in the central Shevchenko district was hit and a fire broke out on the top floors.

In the same district, a strike near an air raid shelter at a school blocked its entrance with debris, trapping several people inside.Every district of Kiev reportedly suffered damage.Tellingly, the only military infrastructure confirmed to have been hit by Ukrainian authorities was the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command building.However, according to a well -known advisor to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Sergiy Flash -Beskresnov, the facility has not been used since the beginning of the war.He also confirmed that the Lukyanovka plant, which had already been damaged by previous shelling, had also been hit.So it's unclear ultimately what the Russians accomplished for all of that, besides making Kiev look like the center of the apocalypse as the sun rose.

Did the Ukrainians take the attack lying down?Of course not.Retribution was swift, devastating, and continues unabated.In the early hours of May 27th, Ukraine struck a military aircraft repair plant in Taganrog, in the Rostov region.Governor Yuri Slyazar claimed air defenses had shot down a missile over the city, with debris injuring two women, one seriously.But footage analyzed by Russian outlet Astra suggested the strike hit near the 325th Aviation Repair Plant, a facility that services Russian military aircraft, including an An -12 and Il -76 transport planes, Su -24 bombers, Su -25 attack jets, and Mi -8 and Mi -24 helicopters.

The facility has been sanctioned by the EU, the US, and Ukraine over its role in supporting Russia's war effort.

Further north, explosions from a Ukrainian missile attack rocketed the area around the Baltimore military airfield in Voronezh.

The base is home to the Su -34 fighter bombers Russia uses heavily in attacks on Ukraine.

Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said two high -speed targets were destroyed over the city, adding that debris damaged civilian structures but caused no casualties.Ukrainian monitoring channel Xelenova Plus claimed the targets were British -French Storm Shadow cruise missiles aimed at the airbase.Video circulating online showed thick black smoke rising above the area after the strike, suggesting direct hits rather than debris damage.On the same night, Ukrainian forces struck the embattled city of Tuapse in Krasnodar Krai, again It's at least the fifth time that this strategically important city has been hit during the spring of 2026 alone.The city houses an important oil refinery and marine terminal for loading the refinery's products onto ships for export.A previous strike on May 1st turned the city temporarily into an unlivable hellhole, complete with air so thick with smoke that breathing became hazardous, toxic oil -filled black rain, and a major oil slick that still hasn't been entirely cleaned up almost a month later.

The latest attack seems to have targeted the marine oil terminal and refinery, sparking a large fire.The Krasnodar Krai Operational HQ predictably described the damage as having been caused by falling drone debris, but more often than not, as we saw in Taganrog and Voronezh, that's a euphemism for a direct hit.Lastly, occupied Crimea also came under attack, as it very often does.Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozayev reported that Ukrainian drones and Storm Shadow missiles targeted the city overnight, with one missile striking the southern directorate building of Russia's central bank.The hit ignited a roof fire and shattered windows and balconies in nearby residential buildings with no casualties reported, local officials said.Russia's defence ministry later claimed its air defences intercepted and destroyed 140 Ukrainian drones over seven Russian regions and Crimea overnight, but made no mention of any missile strikes.

Now, Ukraine and the world is bracing itself for what comes next, even as the country undoubtedly plots its next strike.On Monday, before Ukraine's retaliatory strikes, the Russian foreign ministry announced that its armed forces were preparingconducting what it called systematic strikes on Ukraine's military -industrial facilities in Kiev, as well as what it dubbed decision -making centres.It urged foreign nationals and diplomatic staff to evacuate the city, and residents to avoid military and administrative areas.Even the US hasn't been able to avoid the fallout.Shortly after the warning, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reportedly called Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and told him in no uncertain terms that Washington should evacuate diplomats from the U .

S.embassy in Kyiv.But his warning seems to have been largely ignored.On Wednesday, Kaya Kallas said that EU diplomats would not be leaving, and according to her, only one nation had begun vacating its embassy, the U .S., which promptly denied the claim.

The U .S.embassy is open.There are no changes to our operations and reports otherwise are false, it posted on Hex.It's the latest in a long string of embarrassing utterances from Kalash, which has prompted growing criticism from the media and analysts.Nonetheless, European diplomats seem to be staying put despite the stern Russian warning that seems to suggest that Kiev's administrative district might be about to get pummeled.

Ukraine's foreign minister, Andriy Sebeya, dismissed Moscow's warnings as shameless blackmail, saying the threats would not intimidate Western diplomats operating in the Ukrainian capital.Indeed, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Kateryna Mladenova rejected the evacuation calls, insisting Western missions would remain in the city.But underneath the bravado, there are signs that Ukraine is worried about just how severe the next set of Russian strikes might be.On Wednesday, prominent Ukrainian analyst Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko claimed that Russia was amassing ballistic missiles and could launch a massive strike in about a week.The former Deputy Chief of the General Staff and founder of the Safe Skies Over Ukraine said that Russia is increasing the proportion of ballistic missiles in its attacks to take advantage of Ukraine's shortage of anti -ballistic missiles for air defence.Also on Wednesday, Zelensky penned an open letter to President Putin.

Trump, which was reportedly delivered to Congress by the Ukrainian ambassador to the U .S.,S., Oleh Stepanushina.In it, he laid bare Ukraine's precarious shortage of anti -ballistic missile defenses and requested faster U .S.deliveries of Patriot interceptor missiles.

When it comes to protection against ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the United States, The current pace of deliveries under the PERL program no longer corresponds to the reality of the threat we face.I ask for your help in protecting Ukraine's airspace from Russian missiles," he wrote.It's unclear whether Trump has responded or how he might respond.But in the meantime, Russian bloggers have noted that this week's strikes focused on Russian Air Force -related targets, particularly what they say are fields and facilities from which Russia launches missiles at Ukraine.They speculate that this may be an attempt to prevent or delay a massive strike that, as Romanenko claimed, is very much in the works.But there's a question no one wants to contemplate, and for good reason.

Will Putin authorize the use of a tactical nuke?Hardliners in Russia have been stung by recent setbacks on the front, Ukraine's increasing ability to reach deep into Russia with impunity, and now the Starobilsk attack.They are demanding extremely tough action, but it's debatable whether Russia actually has the conventional power to deliver a truly crushing blow to Kiev, or to deal with potential consequences.Voices like Professor Sergei Karaganov, honorary chairman of the Procedium of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, have long been pushing for Putin to take the gloves off in dealing with Ukraine, but they've largely been shut down by Putin.Now Karaganov's message appears to be gaining resonance.He claims that if Russia's vast nuclear stockpile isn't sufficient in and of itself to deter aggression, Russia will have to use some of them to restore deterrence.

And he's not just pushing for strikes on Ukraine.He also wants to take aim at the European nations that support it most as well.Symbolic strikes to start with, then perhaps less symbolic ones, he told Russian outlet Vesti.Putin has repeatedly laid down red lines during the war, only to humiliatingly allow them to be crossed without much in the way of a response.Ukraine, and the many nations supporting it, have seized the opportunity each time to raise the stakes.But this feels different.

Will Putin once again fail to defend his own line, or was Starobilsk really the last straw, as Lavrov put it?And if Russia is both willing and, more pertinently, able to launch a truly devastating strike on Ukraine or beyond, how will the Western world react?Will the US and European nations be willing to risk nuclear devastation if, say, Putin decides to turn central Kiev into a giant radioactive crater?Let's hope these questions remain speculation.But whatever happens, we'll be following closely and keeping you updated.So make sure you are subscribed to the channel.

In the meantime, check out this video and decide for yourself whether Russia's so -called superweapons, like the Oreshnik, are all they're made out to be.And thank you for watching.