Oreshnik Missile Strike Raises Questions as Kyiv Suffers Heavy Military Infrastructure Damage

The recent massive overnight attack on Ukraine's defense industry facilities has triggered heated debate over the targets that were struck, whether the attacks were sufficient, and the possibility of a nuclear escalation.

Photo: flickr.com by Andy Dunaway, https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/pdm/

Aerial bomb explosion

Strike on Kyiv as Retaliation for the Death of Children

As retaliation for the deaths of children in the dormitory of the Starobelsk College in the LPR, the Russian Armed Forces launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine overnight.

The Russian Defense Ministry briefly stated that "all strikes reached their targets.” According to AMK Mapping, the primary targets of the attack were defense industry facilities in Kyiv. Among them were the Artyom plant, an SBU office in the Podol district, a Ground Forces command post, "something at or near the ship-repair yard,” the former Radial chemical plant, several sites in the Darnytsia industrial zone, the Analitpribor plant, the former Relay and Automation factory, and the Lagoda business park.

In the Kyiv region, strikes reportedly hit the ATB warehouse in Sviatopetrivske and the Chaika warehouse complex in Chaiky.

The Starokostiantyniv air base in the Khmelnytskyi district was also reportedly targeted.

The same Telegram channel identified several additional targets as "unidentified,” including sites struck in the southwestern part of the Zhytomyr region, in Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region, near Mayaky in the Odessa region, in the northwestern part of the Poltava region, and south of Dnipropetrovsk.

Where Did the Oreshnik Strike?

The greatest controversy surrounded the location of the strike involving the Oreshnik missile system. Ukrainian sources, citing the lack of clarification from the Russian Defense Ministry, flooded the internet with photographs of burning garages and residential buildings.

At the same time, experts, including the Fighterbomber resource, believe the target was the air base near Bila Tserkva. The site is a former airfield where the base of the Ukrainian drone commander known as Madyar, along with underground facilities, was reportedly located.

Information later emerged claiming that the strike hit a metallurgical plant in Bila Tserkva where large-scale assembly-line production of FP-1 and Lyutyi long-range drones had been established.

The Oreshnik missile reportedly carried no combat payload, and the launch was carried out from an experimental launcher.

Ukraine's Air Defense Openly Failed

The main conclusion was that Ukraine's air defense system had openly failed. According to former Verkhovna Rada deputy Igor Mosiychuk, there were numerous dead and wounded at the Ground Forces command center. Ukrainian military personnel, he said, are expressing serious concern that if such strikes continue every three to four days, "this could nearly collapse our air defense system entirely.”

Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold

As for retaliation for the deaths of children, revenge must be carried out in such a way that any desire to strike Russia disappears altogether. Nevertheless, immediately after the attack, the Ukrainian Armed Forces reportedly launched HIMARS strikes on Belgorod.

Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko addressed Russians on Telegram, claiming that the West is pushing Russia toward using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, but that this "would change nothing.”

"If you destroy Kyiv, it will change nothing. Thousands of radicals will hide in the metro and bunkers. Hundreds of thousands of civilians will die. Ukrainian society, which is currently divided, will unite around hatred. Mobilization will become easier,” Panchenko wrote.

According to her, Volodymyr Zelensky would either flee or be replaced by "an even more radical Nazi.”

"You will not defeat the Pentagon by destroying Kyiv. In this war, Ukraine is a pawn. And if you begin taking revenge on the pawn, you are playing according to the scenario of the one controlling that pawn.”

What were Ukrainians thinking when they took to the Maidan chanting calls to kill "Moskals” and "Russians” in Donbas? Everything eventually carries a price. As for defeating the Pentagon, that would only be possible through the destruction of civilization itself, and Russia has no such goal.

Europe, however, will also have to answer for its actions. And not necessarily through war. Economically, the EU will not be able to sustain support for Kyiv indefinitely. Ahead lies the disintegration of the European Union and the rise of pragmatic political forces.