In a building in downtown Kyiv hit by yet another Russian barrage on Friday, a group of teen volunteers ferried supplies from the courtyard to board up windows and patch walls destroyed by a drone attack. A dental clinic on the first floor was hastily trying to clear debris and patch holes before it became too cold to reopen. Like half of Kyiv, the building had no heat even as temperatures dropped below 14 degrees Fahrenheit. In the parking lot, a Mini Cooper stood scorched and windowless.
Russian air strikes tend to intensify after productive summits between Ukraine and its foreign partners. As its missiles fell on Ukraine, Moscow sent signals both to Ukrainian and international audiences. For Ukrainians, the Friday attack on Kyiv, with 242 drones and 36 missiles that killed four and injured 25 others, was just the latest effort at intimidation that Ukrainians have come to expect from Moscow. For the rest of the world, the attack, which included a strike by a nuclear-capable missile right by Ukraine’s border with Poland, was a reminder of the Kremlin’s ability to threaten NATO’s borders with weapons that Western air defenses struggle to intercept.
From the viewpoint of Ukraine’s allies, the biggest shadow that hangs over the Ukraine war is the threat of escalation to nuclear weapons. The Oreshnik hypersonic missile that Russia launched into Western Ukraine’s Lviv region—only its second use in the war—was not armed with a nuclear warhead, but the message that it could be in the future was unmistakable. President Joe Biden consistently slow-walked weapons to Kyiv for fear of nuclear escalation, according to former administration officials. Now, with Ukraine-Russia negotiations deadlocked and U.S. sanctions on Russia tightening, Moscow is resorting to blunt warnings. Years of successful nuclear saber-rattling now seem to invite more of it.
