Oreshnik strike a retaliation for Kiev’s ‘terrorist attacks’ – Moscow

The Russian military has commented on its massive overnight response to Ukraine’s massacre in Lugansk Region

Published 24 May, 2026 08:54 |

Russian forces launched a “massive strike”overnight against military targets in Ukraine,using intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik system and Iskander ballistic missiles, Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles, air-, sea- and ground-launched cruise missiles, as well as attack drones.

The strike came after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Defense Ministry to “submit proposals” for a response to a Ukrainian drone attack on a teacher training college dormitoryin the Lugansk People’s Republic,which left 21 people dead and 42 injured, mostly teenage girls.

Thebombardment targeted the Ukrainian military’s command and control facilities, air bases, and the country’s defense industry enterprises, the ministry said.No strikes had been planned or carried out against civilian infrastructure, it added.

“The objectives of the strike have been achieved. All designated targets were hit,”it stressed.

Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian media and Telegram channels circulated videos showing clusters of bright objects rapidly descending from the sky,claiming that Russia had deployed an Oreshnik against an unspecified targetin the town of Belaya Tserkov near Ukraine’s capital, Kiev.

The dormitory of Starobelsk College, a facility of Lugansk Pedagogical University located in thetown of Starobelsk, was struck by multiple waves of Ukrainian drones on Friday while students were asleep inside, in what Putin described as a deliberate “terrorist act.”

Governor Leonid Pasechnik declared May 24-25 days of mourning, describing the attack as “pure evil” and saying those responsible would face “deserved and inevitable punishment.”

Earlier,the US Embassy in Kiev warned American citizens of a “potentially significant air attack” that could take place within 24 hours and urged them to be ready to seek shelter immediately if an air alert was issued.

Moscow first publicly confirmed firing an Oreshnik in November 2024 when the missile was used in a strike on the Yuzhmash military-industrial facility in Dnepropetrovsk.It was deployed for the second time this January, obliterating an aircraft repair plant in Lviv, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

https://www.rt.com/russia/640509-oreshnik-strike-retaliation-for-kievs/

(The Gloves are off, the nations aligned with Ukraine, had no response to the horror of Terrorism on young college kids, Zelensky and the West have gotten away with their last lie.)

Russia’s reported Oreshnik response to Ukraine’s dorm strike ‘justified’ – US journalist

NATO countries are fueling their “puppet regime in Kiev” with weapons, intelligence, and advanced warfare systems, John Varoli told RT

Published 24 May, 2026 03:16 |

Russia’s reportedretaliatory strikes on military targets in Ukraine are morally and legally justified following the “heinous terrorist attack” on a schooldormitoryin the Lugansk People’s Republic, American journalist John Varoli has told RT.

Varoli described the Ukrainian drone strike on the Starobelsk teacher training college dormitory, which killed 21 people,mostly teenage girls, and injured dozens more ,as “one of the worst committedby the NATO puppet regime in Kiev.”

Commenting on videos circulating online that purportedly show a Russian Oreshnik missile strike near Kiev early Sunday morning, Varoli said the footage appeared similar to previous uses of the system.

“The video that I saw seemsvery similar to the two previous Oreshnik strikes that we’ve seen before,” he said. “So most likely, yes, it seems like it was an Oreshnik system.”

Varoli described the weapon as “absolutely unstoppable” and capable of penetrating hardened underground targets, suggesting that the reported strike may have targeted a NATO-linked command facility outside Kiev.

He claimed that NATO officers are present at “sensitive military installations” in and around the Ukrainian capital.

The journalist argued thatthe dormitory strike should be seen in the broader context of what he described as near-daily Ukrainian attacks on Russian civilians, including strikes on homes, cars, buses, and infrastructure in Lugansk, Donetsk, and Crimea, as well as increasingly deep inside Russia.

NATO countries continue to support Kiev with weapons, battlefield intelligence, and advanced warfare systems, Varoli said,urging the US government to investigate whether American tech companiessuch as Palantir have helped facilitate Ukrainian “terrorist attacks” and should face prosecution.

https://www.rt.com/russia/640503-russia-kiev-retribution-justified/

Drone crashes into lake in Baltic state (PHOTO)

A new UAV-related incident occurred in Latvia days afterits government collapsed over the Ukrainian kamikaze drones scandal

Published 23 May, 2026 15:19 |

An unidentified drone has crashed into Lake Dridzis in Latvia, exploding on impact, local authorities have said.

The blast has become the latest in a string of drone-related incidents, which have been plaguing the Baltic states, in recent weeks.Multiple Ukrainian long-range kamikaze drones have repeatedly violated the airspace of those NATO and EU member states, with some of the UAVs crashing in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland.

For Latvia, the drone troubles resulted in the collapse of Prime Minister Evika Silina’s governmentafter two Ukrainian kamikaze UAVs hit an oil depot near the Russian border.

The latest incident was reported on Saturday, when a drone crashed into Lake Dridzis, located some 17 km away from Latvia’s border with Belarus. The UAV exploded on impact, killing fish in the lake with no further damage and injuries reported. Latvian police said it managed to recover some debris from the lake, sharing a picture of a mangled fiberglass object believed to be a piece of the UAV.

The outgoing PM acknowledged the incident, urging the public to follow only “official information” on the drone explosion. “I expect from the emergency services as detailed information as possible on the circumstances of the incident and further actions,” Silina stated on X.

Moscow has accused NATO states of tacitly allowing Ukraine to use their airspace to conduct strikes in northwestern Russia, specifically on oil export terminals in the Leningrad Region. Earlier this week, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed thatUkraine “does not intend to limit itself to using the air corridors provided to the Ukrainians armed by the Baltic states” but also seeks to directly “launch the UAVs from the territory of these countries.”

The agency specifically singled out Latvia, alleging that Riga had already agreed to the operation,believing Kiev’s false claims that it would be impossible to identify the exact launch sites for the drones. Latvia’s NATO membership will not protect the accomplices of terrorists from just retribution,” the SVR warned.

https://www.rt.com/russia/640484-latvia-lake-drone-crash/

Ukraine pulling NATO countries into illegal attacks on Russia will lead the EU and NATO into larger problems.

Ukraine and the road to ruin

Sergey Poletaev

The fate of the conflict, part 1: The state that forgot how to live without war

Published 21 May, 2026 16:17

2025 can be seen as the year in which the united anti-Russian coalition fell apart. In essence, there are now three distinct players acting against Russia (Ukraine, Europe, the US), and each has its own interests. Analyst Sergey Poletaev has prepared a series of articles in which he analyses the position of each player, their goals and interests in the conflict, and suggests how Russia might respond.

The first one concerns Ukraine.

The untamed lands

One of the scenarios long under consideration is the gradual disintegration of the Ukrainian state, turning it into a sort of Gaza on the Dnieper. As time goes on, the likelihood of this scenario is growing, so let’s examine exactly what it entails.

A fully-fledged state possesses an instinct for self-preservation. Apart from heart-warming victories over enemies, a state always has a host of concerns: the economy, demographics, infrastructure, the social sphere, and so on. By definition, a state is a superstructure built upon society, and, one way or another, it wages wars for the sake of the common good. Yet while at war, a state is always thinking about how it will survive afterwards and indeed, it’s forced to think of things like this.

If, however, the state becomes detached from society for whatever reason, it transforms into a military organization whose sole raison d’être becomes conflict. In such cases, any ideological goals may be proclaimed: a global caliphate or victory over colonial oppression, the defense of European civilization or driving the Zionists into the sea. It doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that even when such an organization controls a certain territory and is therefore compelled to perform state and public functions there, when faced with a choice between these functions and its own military needs, it will always choose the latter.

For the state, people are a resource for its own reproduction and development. For a military organization, people are a resource for war: in the form of fighters and human shields.

It’s possible to negotiate with a state. Before a war, one can threaten it, stage military maneuvers and drills, while at the same time offering various incentives. This approach works because a state considers the consequences. During a war, a state also weighs up the pros and cons and, as a rule, knows when to stop.

Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about unique wars like the Eastern Front in the Second World War, where the only possible outcome was the annihilation of one side. We’re talking about typical, classic wars, the aim of which is to use force to influence the policies of the opposing power, for it accept the victor’s terms, but not to kill to the last man.

https://www.rt.com/russia/640327-ukraine-and-road-to-ruin/

(One of the most profound analysis of history of Russia and Ukraine, and the reincarnation of a constant war society by Ukraine that destroys any societal goals; and how it’s a repeats of the destruction on Ukraine, and effects of Russia and the future. With the understanding of the historical failure of the leaders in Ukraine, that has made them a constant war country for future history and not a society.)

>>24640408

2/4

Such wars continue until it becomes easier for the losing side to accept the terms than to continue fighting. It’s easier to adjust policy than to lose lives. It’s easier to pay reparations than to cripple the economy. It’s easier to cede territory than to forfeit one’s future prospects.

A militant organization, especially one supplied from abroad, has nothing to lose. It will continue to operate as long as its ideals remain alive and there are sufficient resources to keep the fight going. It can be driven underground, but it will sprout from there like a weed.

Up the staircase leading down

Ukraine currently finds itself somewhere halfway between a state and a militant organization, which will inevitably evolve into a terrorist group. State functions are being carried out in the country, but only thanks to external funding. The non-war-related economy has virtually disappeared, and industry has fallen to a minimum due to energy shortages. More and more people are becoming alienated from the state, and the further things go, the fewer alternatives there are: either you integrate yourself into the military hierarchy in one way or another, or you find a way to flee the country, or you languish in poverty.

Consequently, Ukraine is becoming increasingly detached, not yet from the land itself, but from the people who inhabit that land. It is increasingly subordinating itself to the aims of war, and in so doing is losing the hallmarks of statehood. As long as the front holds more or less, this process isn’t obvious: from the outside, it seems that Ukraine is united and steadfast, just as it was on the first day of the special military operation. But the further we go, the more only a shell remains of pre-war Ukraine: transit military logistics, the bureaucratic and financial superstructures serving it, semi-artisanal basement-level military production (such as assembling drones from Chinese components), rear services and, most importantly, the front line, the collapse of which will bring everything else to an end within a matter of weeks.

It’s generally assumed that following the collapse of its defenses (or in the face of imminent collapse), Ukraine will have to agree to peace on Russia’s terms in order to preserve its statehood. However, for this to happen, the necessary forces must be found within the Ukrainian elite. The further we go, the less hope there is for this: as the creeping disintegration of the state continues, the authorities in Kiev have less and less reason to think about the future, the welfare of their own people, the economy and so on.

It seems the turning point came last autumn. Whereas previously Kiev had seriously hoped for a ceasefire in exchange for Western (primarily American) security guarantees, after the Anchorage summit it came to terms with the fact that this was a pipe dream and bit the bullet. In October 2025, Vladimir Zelensky stated at a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk: Ukraine is prepared to fight for another two or three years (and ten, if necessary). For what? In fact, this is no secret. Ukraine has two options left: either endless war, or, if it manages somehow to force Russia into a ceasefire, accelerated militarization and preparations for a new war. If they manage to drag Western European troops onto Ukrainian territory, it’s excellent for them; if not, they’re ready to take their revenge without them.

The rest of the rhetoric has changed accordingly. Ukrainian children, even those in nurseries, must prepare for war. All Ukrainian men, and in principle women too, must go and fight. There is widespread discussion of lifting exemptions for students, critical infrastructure workers (including energy workers who desperately saved Ukrainian cities from freezing this winter), even doctors, and so on. Of course, this is linked to the acute shortage of personnel at the front, but the main point is that general mobilization, which was previously regarded as a temporary anomaly, is now being accepted as the new norm and is set to become even more widespread and permanent.

This is precisely how the Ukrainian state envisions its future; and this is what constitutes Ukraine’s transformation into a vast Gaza, or, if you will, into a second Ruin (following the example of the first Ruin, the period at the end of the 17th century when the then Hetmanate Ukraine fell into general decline, followed by its piecemeal absorption by its neighbors).

https://www.rt.com/russia/640327-ukraine-and-road-to-ruin/

(The historians and contributors have a fascinating understanding on all of Russia’s history and other countries)

>>24640412

3/4

A terrible end

This doesn’t mean that Ukraine will be able to secure such a future for itself. By isolating itself from society, Kiev is losing its social base. The tighter the ranks of the fanatics, the more frenzied their slogans, the fewer of them there are. A combat organization is suitable for irregular operations, but to hold a front line stretching 1,500 kilometers, a complex and powerful state apparatus is required. Despite Western supplies, the Ukrainian army is facing a critical shortage of everything, from personnel to food.

A squadron of drone operators with Starlink isn’t an army. In a war of attrition, offensive operations must be conducted, yet the Ukrainian Armed Forces are de facto deprived of this capability. All they are currently capable of is a series of counter-attacks on one or two fronts, lasting no more than two or three weeks. Meanwhile, modern warfare dictates that for an offensive to succeed, one must painstakingly wear down a particular section of the front over weeks, or even months, exhausting the defenses, before seeping through the enemy’s ranks and forcing them to retreat with losses.

Not advancing is not an option either: while the Ukrainian Armed Forces simply sit in their trenches, drones, mines, shells and aerial bombs fly at them just the same, and they suffer losses just the same. An army that does not advance inevitably loses — this is an immutable law of war, proven over millennia.

In this context, the remarks made by Valery Zaluzhny, the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a man one would be hard-pressed to accuse of pacifism, are particularly noteworthy. On May 7, he stated that, having ceded the initiative to Russia on the battlefield, Ukraine is forced to respond at the cost of heavy losses, which, in turn, is guaranteed to lead to defeat.

It would seem that there are still a million or two men of conscription age fit for service remaining in the country, who, given the current nature of the hostilities, would last for about ten years. But this is where the downside of turning the state into a military organization becomes apparent: the people of Ukraine are sabotaging the mobilization en masse, and it is safe to say that attempts to tighten it won’t lead to an increase in recruitment, but only to an even greater rift between the state and society.

In some ways, this is reminiscent of the Russian Civil War of 1918–1922. The White (anti-Bolshevik) movement controlled vast territories, where it established a bureaucratic system of varying effectiveness, collected taxes, implemented the budget, bought grain from peasants, and also received supplies from abroad and even had foreign interventionist troops in the rear (including not only British and French, but also American and even Japanese expeditionary forces), yet it faced constant and growing difficulties in recruiting for its own ranks. Despite famine and devastation, the population in the territories controlled by the Whites refused en masse to join the army, which ultimately led to their defeat.

An endless nightmare

The main scenario for the continuation of Russia’s military operation is to continue fighting at the current pace for as long as it takes to crush the Ukrainian army. In the event of a ceasefire, currently under discussion with the US, we should remain on full combat alert in anticipation of the more than likely resumption of hostilities. Judging by Vladimir Putin’s remarks at the press conference on May 9, he is confident that military defeat, followed by the collapse of the Ukrainian state, is just around the corner.

However, as the examples of Chechnya and the Caucasus show, the conflict may not end once the front line collapses; Ukraine may go underground, despite losing control of some of its former territory.

Long-range drones will continue to fly from the remnants of Ukrainian land into Russia and beyond, and unmanned kamikaze boats will attack maritime communications, this is likely a reality that must be accepted as inevitable for years, if not decades, to come. But as practice shows, despite wounded pride and sensational media coverage, light Ukrainian drones are incapable of inflicting strategic damage, and improvements in methods to counter them will, over time, reduce the effectiveness of their strikes.

https://www.rt.com/russia/640327-ukraine-and-road-to-ruin/

>>24640414

4/4

This scenario is clear. But what if, for some reason, a permanent ceasefire is established? What happens next? Ukraine is a devastated country, whose government and economy are entirely focused on a single goal. And we must assume that Ukraine will inevitably begin preparing for a new war. Not because it hopes to win, but because it has no other options: the prospect of peaceful post-war reconstruction is virtually out of the question for Ukraine as it stands.

The extent to which these preparations are successful and far-reaching depends on external players, first and foremost on Ukraine’s Western European support base. Of course, there is a chance that Ukraine will be cut off from EU support, and that internal instability will bring about what could not be achieved on the battlefield, but one should not count on this; so no truce, no ceasefire will remove the problem of a large hostile formation on Russia’s borders, and this means that a resumption of the conflict is more than likely.

***

By refusing to change its policy towards Russia and choosing the path of war, Ukraine as a state has condemned itself to destruction. As long as Russia exists in its current form, the restoration of statehood and any constructive nation-building within Ukraine’s borders is possible only on the basis of loyalty to Russia.

This is beyond doubt; the only question is whether this can be achieved by reformatting the current Ukraine (read: a coup and subsequent break with Western Europe), or whether it will have to go through the complete collapse of the state, years of ruin, followed by piecemeal absorption by its neighbors.

https://www.rt.com/russia/640327-ukraine-and-road-to-ruin/

RT recounts deadliest Ukrainian terrorist strikes on Russian civilians

More than8,000 Russian civilians have been killed since February 2022, including more than 350 from January through April this year, according to Moscow (this doesn’t include innocent Ukrainians)

Published 22 May, 2026 14:18 |

At least ten people have been killed and 38 others injured in an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on a school in Starobelsk, about 90 km north of Lugansk, according to Russian officials. Fourteen children were among the injured and eight people were hospitalized, including three in serious condition.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack as a “monstrous crime,” while Foreign Ministry spokeswoman MariaZakharova condemned Kiev’s Western backers for being “brutally silent” on the tragedy.

Ukraine has routinely launched attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure, including using a double-tap method, hitting the same area again in a bid to increase casualties after first responders arrive, according to Russian officials. Moscow has described the strikes as acts of terrorism.

Big picture: How many Russian civilians have died in Ukrainian attacks?

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Ukrainian attacks had killed more than 8,000 civilians as of April 2026 and injured almost 20,000 more, according to Rodion Miroshnik, who leads the Russian Foreign Ministry mission that tracks alleged Ukrainian war crimes.

In late April, Miroshnik said at least 266 civilians, including seven children, were killed in Ukrainian attacks in the first 90 days of 2026, while 1,459 others were injured.

In May, he said at least 100 civilians were killed and 667 injured in April alone.

RT recounts the deadliest strikes in the past several months.

May 16: Most powerful raid on Moscow this year

Three civilians were killed and more than a dozen injured in amassive Ukrainian drone attackon Moscow and the surrounding region, with several buildings significantly damaged, according to the local authorities.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin saidair defenses destroyed more than 120 drones.

April 27-29: Belgorod Region attacks

On April 29, three women were killed and eight people injured when a Ukrainian drone struck a passenger bus not far from the border village of Shebekino – which has become one of the most targeted settlements in the country over the past months.

Two days before, four civilians were killed and six others injured in attacks across Belgorod Region, according to the local authorities.

The deadincluded a family of refugees from Kursk Region whose car was hit by a strike.

April 25-26: Lugansk Region under fire

On April 25,three people were killed and two others injured in Solontsy, a village in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), local officials said, adding that at least four homes had been destroyed.

One day later,three young people were killedin Bulgakovka, a small LPR village north of Severodonetsk, after a Ukrainian drone struck them near a house, regional head Leonid Pasechnik said. He identified the victims as two 18-year-old men and a 28-year-old woman.

March 12:Ukraine killing medics in Donbass

Eight medical workerswere killed and ten people injured when Ukrainian forces struck a medical facility in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), officials in Moscow said, adding that the attack was aimed at a premises housing more than 130 patients and about 50 medical personnel.

March 8: Another Donbass strike

Four people, including a child, were killed in Ukrainian attacks on the DPR settlement of Gornyak, around 20 km from Donetsk, regional head Denis Pushilin said, adding that the strike had wiped out an entire family. Twelve civilians, including a teenager, were injured across the region that day, he added.

January 1: Two dozen dead at New Year party

At least 24 people were killed and more than 50 injured when Ukrainian drones struck a cafe and hotel during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Khorly, a Black Sea village in Kherson Region. The local authorities said the venue was scouted by a reconnaissance UAV and later hit by three drones, with one apparently carrying an incendiary mixture.

https://www.rt.com/russia/640406-ukraine-strikes-civilians-recap/

The Nazis in Ukraine and the NWO have been killing innocents freedoms loving in Ukraine since 2014, all to destroy any Russian, Ukrainian friendship, families etc. The U.S. DS started it, and the lie continues on. You’ll find years and years of the truth of how the Ukraine faux and war started and has no vision of ending anytime soon. No one is allowed to tell the truth, especially in the U.S. house and senate and the Admin. Trump tried to address it, but the lie must continue to destroy Russia.

Consortium News has been covering the American, Ukrainian war from day one in February 2014, read the truth about how Ukraine was used as NWO for all these years even today to alienate Russia from the world, with the desire of waging war on them and winning.

If you want the truth, ==read from Feb 2014 for multiple years even to this day; the beginning of the creation of the DS in Ukraine, with the goal to make Russia the enemy of the world for decades.

Reading the early articles will correct the propaganda that’s still being pushed wildly today for anyone interested in the truth.

A Selective View of ‘Democracy’

February 26, 2014

“Americans like the idea of promoting “democracy,” but prominent U.S. commentators praised the ouster of democratically elected leaders in Egypt and Ukraine, siding with military coup makers in Egypt andright-wing rioters in the streets of Ukraine. That suggests “democracy”…”

Ukraine’s Inconvenient Neo-Nazis

March 30, 2014

Exclusive: When Ukrainian neo-Nazis infuriated over the killing of an ultranationalist leader surrounded the Parliament in Kiev, the incident presented a problem for the U.S. news media which has been trying to airbrush the neo-Nazis out of the Ukraine narrative, Robert Parry…

https://consortiumnews.com/2014/03/

One of the first articles by Parry with how this started against Russia by Obama with Angela Merkel, the same type of people that is destroying EU today.