Ukraine’s parliament has cancelled its session, lawmakers say, citing the risk of a Russian missile attack on the capital as the Kremlin said a hypersonic missile strike in Dnipro was a warning to the West.
The closing of parliament on Friday followed a decision by several foreign embassies to temporarily shut operations over the threat of a strike on Kyiv.
“There was also a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and NGOs that remain in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” MP Mykyta Poturaiev said.
Another member of parliament, Oleksiy Goncharenko, described the decision as “ridiculous”, saying it only “created even more panic” in Kyiv and played into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s spokesperson told journalists that the presidential office was working as usual.
Kyiv has been regularly targeted by Russian missiles and drones since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
On Thursday, Putin said Russian forces fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine in response to Kyiv’s use this week of missiles made in the United States and United Kingdom in attacks on targets in Russia.
The Kremlin said on Friday that the newly developed hypersonic ballistic missile it launched on the central city of Dnipro was a warning to Western countries that Russia will respond to their “reckless” actions.
Russia had not been obliged to warn the US but did so anyway 30 minutes before the launch of the Oreshnik, or “hazel tree”, missile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The weapon flew for 15 minutes and reached a maximum speed of beyond Mach 11, Ukraine’s spy agency said on Friday, adding: “The missile was equipped with six warheads: each equipped with six submunitions.”
Peskov insisted that Putin remained open to dialogue despite what he called outgoing US President Joe Biden’s preference for “escalation”.
The US approved Ukraine’s use of its long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to conduct strikes deep inside Russian territory.
Zelenskyy has described Russia’s use of the new missile as “a clear and severe escalation” in the war and called for strong worldwide condemnation.
NATO will hold an emergency meeting with Ukraine on Tuesday to discuss the missile strike.