Reporting on the May 23-24 Russian retaliation strike, which we have covered as it unfolded, has clarified the scale of the attacks and the European response. Russia fired 600 drones and 90 missiles, including an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile aimed at Bila Tserkva, 80 km south of Kyiv, in the third combat use of that nuclear-capable system. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko called it the largest attack on the capital of the entire war, damaging 40 locations and roughly 30 residential buildings. Four were killed—two in Kyiv, two in the surrounding region—and at least 83 wounded.
Zelensky, in a Sunday video address, called for “consequences” against Russia. Ukraine’s General Staff disputed the Russian account of the May 22 Starobelsk attack, denying it had targeted the trade-school dormitory in which 21 students died, and saying its drones struck the headquarters of “Rubicon,” a Russian unmanned systems unit in the area.