They will simply try to level everything. They have no other tactics.
More than a hundred days into a war that has reshaped the European order, Russia returned its missiles to the skies above Kyiv on a quiet Sunday morning, ending a month of uneasy calm in the capital and reminding its inhabitants that proximity to normalcy is not the same as peace. Yet even as the bombardment signaled Moscow's reach, Ukrainian forces in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk mounted a surprise counter-offensive that reclaimed half the city, suggesting that the arc of this conflict remains unresolved and contested. The war has entered a grinding phase in which neither side can deliver a decisive blow, but both continue to absorb staggering losses in pursuit of incremental advantage.
- Russian missiles struck Kyiv's outskirts for the first time in over a month, fired from bombers over the Caspian Sea and passing dangerously close to a nuclear power plant, shattering the fragile sense of normalcy the capital had begun to rebuild.
- In Sievierodonetsk, where Ukrainian forces had been steadily retreating under relentless Russian bombardment, a sudden counter-offensive caught Russian troops off guard and recaptured roughly half the city, potentially reversing Moscow's operational momentum in the east.
- The human toll continues to mount on both sides — a Russian major general reported killed, a journalist previously lost to shelling, evacuations suspended and then resumed, with 98 civilians managing to escape Luhansk province on Sunday.
- Putin publicly dismissed the significance of U.S. medium-range rocket deliveries while issuing a pointed warning: provide longer-range systems, and Russia will strike targets it has not yet touched — a signal that the war's geography remains dangerously negotiable.
- British defence analysts assessed that Ukrainian counterattacks were likely blunting whatever momentum Russia had built, while noting Moscow's use of poorly equipped separatist fighters as a shield for its regular forces — a tactic that speaks to both strategy and strain.
Sunday morning returned the sound of air raid sirens to Kyiv for the first time in more than a month. Russian missiles struck two outlying districts of the capital, leaving dark smoke visible from miles away and sending at least one person to hospital. The target, Ukrainian officials said, was a rail car repair facility; Moscow claimed it had destroyed tanks supplied by Eastern European allies. For a city that had begun to feel almost ordinary again since Russian forces withdrew in March, the strike was a sharp reminder that the war had never truly departed.
The missiles had traveled an extraordinary distance, launched from heavy bombers positioned over the Caspian Sea. One cruise missile passed critically low over Ukraine's second-largest nuclear power plant — a detail that underscored both the reach and the recklessness of the assault. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak condemned the strike on social media as a deliberate attempt to maximize civilian harm, while Zelenskiy was elsewhere, visiting troops in Zaporizhzhia.
Far to the east, the picture was more complicated for Russia. In Sievierodonetsk — the site of one of the war's largest and most grinding battles — Ukrainian forces launched an unexpected counter-offensive that caught Russian troops off guard. Governor Serhiy Gaidai of Luhansk province reported that Ukrainian troops had recaptured roughly half the city and were continuing to push forward. "They will simply try to level everything. They have no other tactics," he said of the Russian approach. The gains allowed evacuations to resume from Ukrainian-held parts of Luhansk, with 98 people escaping on Sunday.
British defence analysts assessed that the Ukrainian counterattacks were likely to blunt Russia's operational momentum, while noting that Moscow had been deploying poorly equipped separatist fighters in the city to shield its regular forces. Elsewhere, a Russian state media outlet reported the death of Major General Roman Kutuzov in eastern Ukraine, adding to a growing list of senior Russian military casualties.
Overhanging the battlefield was the question of Western weapons. The United States announced it would send advanced medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine, with Washington ruling out longer-range munitions and securing a Ukrainian commitment not to strike inside Russia. Putin, speaking on state television, dismissed the rockets as comparable to Soviet-era systems and claimed Russia had been handling Western drones with ease — but warned that longer-range deliveries would prompt strikes on targets not yet attacked. More than a hundred days in, the war showed no signs of resolution, only the slow, costly arithmetic of attrition.
Sunday morning brought the sound of air raid sirens back to Kyiv for the first time in more than a month. Russian missiles struck two outlying districts of the capital early that day, their impact visible as dark smoke rising from miles away. The target, according to Ukrainian officials, was a rail car repair facility. Moscow claimed it had destroyed tanks supplied by Eastern European allies. At least one person was hospitalized, though initial reports suggested no deaths.
The strike landed like a jolt to a city that had begun to feel almost normal again. Since Russian forces withdrew from Kyiv's outskirts in March, life had largely resumed its ordinary rhythms. But Sunday's attack was a sharp reminder that the war had never truly left. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, responded with anger on social media, characterizing the strike as an attempt to maximize civilian casualties. Zelenskiy himself was elsewhere that day, visiting troops in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia.
The missiles had traveled an extraordinary distance—fired from heavy bombers positioned as far away as the Caspian Sea, using long-range air-launched weapons far more sophisticated than the tanks Russia claimed to have destroyed. One cruise missile passed critically low over Ukraine's second-largest nuclear power plant, a detail that underscored both the reach and the recklessness of the assault. The last major strike on Kyiv had occurred in late April, when a missile killed a journalist. Since then, Russia had concentrated its destructive force mainly on the front lines in the east and south, though it continued sporadic strikes elsewhere, framing them as efforts to degrade Ukrainian military capacity and disrupt Western arms deliveries.
While Kyiv absorbed the shock of renewed bombardment, the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk was the site of something different: a Ukrainian counter-offensive that appeared to be shifting the balance of the grinding ground war. For weeks, Russian forces had pounded the small industrial city, pursuing what had become one of the war's largest battles in their bid to capture the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces they claim on behalf of separatist proxies. Ukrainian forces had been retreating steadily. Then, unexpectedly, they turned and attacked. According to Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk province, the counter-assault caught the Russians off guard. Ukrainian troops had recaptured a significant portion of the city and now controlled roughly half of it, Gaidai said, and they were continuing to push Russian forces back. "They will simply try to level everything. They have no other tactics," he said of the Russian approach.
Both sides reported inflicting massive casualties in Sievierodonetsk, and the battle's outcome could shape the momentum of what many analysts expected to be a long war of attrition. The Ukrainian gains also had a practical consequence: evacuations from the Ukrainian-held parts of Luhansk province resumed on Sunday, with 98 people managing to escape. Russian forces had been attempting for weeks to cut off the main road out of the region to encircle Ukrainian troops, and evacuations had been suspended the previous week after shelling killed a journalist. The British defence ministry assessed that Ukrainian counterattacks over the past day were likely to blunt whatever operational momentum Russia had accumulated. Moscow, it noted, was deploying poorly equipped separatist fighters in the city to shield its regular forces from risk.
In neighboring Donetsk province, Russian forces had been advancing in recent days north of the Siverskiy Donets river, positioning themselves for what Ukraine anticipated could be a major push toward the city of Sloviansk. The broader picture was one of a conflict settling into a grinding phase, with neither side able to deliver a knockout blow but both willing to absorb enormous losses. A Russian state media outlet reported that Major General Roman Kutuzov had been killed in eastern Ukraine, adding to a growing list of high-ranking Russian military casualties. Ukraine's military said its forces had repelled seven attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Sunday alone, destroying four tanks and shooting down a combat helicopter.
Meanwhile, the question of Western weapons hung over the conflict. The United States had announced it would send advanced medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine, which Kyiv hoped would help shift the balance in its favor. Washington had ruled out providing longer-range munitions and said Kyiv had committed not to strike inside Russian territory. In an interview with Russian state television, President Vladimir Putin dismissed the significance of the new rockets, saying they were comparable to Soviet-era systems Ukraine already possessed. But he warned Washington against sending longer-range variants, threatening that if it did, Russia would strike targets it had not yet attacked. He also downplayed the impact of Western drones, claiming Russia had been "cracking them like nuts." The war, now more than 100 days old, showed no signs of resolution.
Citas Notables
The Kremlin resorts to new insidious attacks. Today's missile strikes at Kyiv have only one goal—kill as many as possible.— Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukrainian presidential adviser
This is nothing new. It doesn't change anything in essence.— Vladimir Putin, on U.S. medium-range rocket systems
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did Russia suddenly strike Kyiv again after a month of relative quiet?
It's hard to know Putin's exact calculus, but the timing suggests a message—a reminder that the capital remains within reach, that the war hasn't ended just because Russian troops withdrew in March. It also came as Ukraine was claiming battlefield gains in the east, so it may have been a way to reassert dominance elsewhere.
The Ukrainian counter-attack in Sievierodonetsk—how significant is that really?
It matters because it breaks a pattern. For weeks, Ukrainian forces had been retreating in that city. A sudden reversal, especially one that catches the Russians off guard, can shift momentum in a grinding war. If Ukraine can hold half the city and keep pushing, it changes the narrative of who's winning.
But both sides claim huge casualties there. Does that mean anything?
In a war of attrition, yes and no. High casualties are inevitable when neither side can maneuver freely. What matters is whether you can sustain them and whether you're trading ground for bodies in a way that favors you. Ukraine seems to think it is, at least for now.
Putin said the new American rockets don't change anything. Do they?
He's trying to minimize their importance publicly, but his warning against longer-range systems suggests he's worried. Medium-range rockets give Ukraine reach it didn't have before. That's not nothing, even if it's not a game-changer on its own.
What about the nuclear plant? That seems dangerous.
Extremely. A cruise missile flying critically low over a nuclear facility is the kind of thing that could go catastrophically wrong. It signals either recklessness or a calculated show of force—neither is reassuring.