Russian forces executed a high-profile hypersonic escalation early Sunday morning, May 24, deploying an RS-26 Rubezh medium-range ballistic missile – publicized by Moscow as the “Oreshnik” – to strike the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region. The implementation of the strategic system was officially confirmed by Colonel Yurii Ihnat, Head of the Communications Department for the Ukrainian Air Force Command. The launch originated from the Kapustin Yar military test range in Russia’s southwestern Astrakhan region. The impact in the Bila Tserkva district was captured on localized surveillance feeds, showing multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles separating in the upper atmosphere to cause a rapid succession of ground-level explosions.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Investigative teams from the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office and specialized military forensic units deployed to the impact site early Sunday morning to recover material fragments and assess structural damage. The deployment of the Oreshnik fulfilled urgent weekend intelligence warnings issued by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had cautioned that Western tracking networks detected immediate launch preparations at Kapustin Yar following a weeks-long diplomatic and military standoff in the Persian Gulf. The strike marks Russia’s third operational use of the platform since the launch of the full-scale invasion, following an initial trial strike against Dnipro in November 2024 and a subsequent attack on the Lviv region in January 2026.