The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that it had struck western Ukraine with a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile, an ominous warning by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as U.S.-led negotiations to end the war have gained steam.
The attack was only the second time in the war that Moscow had fired that type of missile, known as the Oreshnik. The choice of western Ukraine — near the border with Poland, an E.U. and NATO member — as the target seemed intended to send a message to Europe as it strongly backs Kyiv in the settlement talks.
With the strike, Russia is escalating the fighting in Ukraine even as it has offered a muted response to challenges in other places around the globe, including in Venezuela. There, the Trump administration ousted a Russian ally, President Nicolás Maduro, last week. On Wednesday, the United States seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic that Washington had placed under sanctions for illicit oil shipments.
Russia said on Friday that it had used the Oreshnik missile and other weapons to hit drone-making and energy infrastructure in Ukraine. Explosions were reported early Friday near the western city of Lviv after the Ukrainian military warned of a potential missile launch from a Russian strategic nuclear testing site, the Kapustin Yar facility near the Caspian Sea.
