President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russia was likely preparing a strike on Ukraine using the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile and urged citizens to take shelter.
"Our intelligence services reported receiving data, including from American and European partners, about Russia preparing a strike with the Oreshnik missile. We are verifying this information," Zelenskyy said, framing the warning as an immediate threat that Kyiv was still confirming.
The warning was underscored by an alert from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, which told U.S. citizens that it had "received information concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next 24 hours." The embassy advised that "U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced."
Zelenskyy said Kyiv was seeing signs of preparation for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kyiv, and that Ukraine was readying its air defences "as much as possible." He appealed directly to the public: "Russian madness truly knows no bounds, so please protect your lives – use shelters."
The president placed the intelligence in a broader diplomatic frame, warning that the use of such weapons would reverberate beyond Ukraine. "The use of such weapons and the prolongation of this war also sets a global precedent for other potential aggressors," he said, tying the immediate risk to a wider international concern.
Zelenskyy pressed for a preventive global response. "If Russia is allowed to destroy lives on such a scale, then no agreement will restrain other similar hatred-based regimes from aggression and strikes. We count on a response from the world – and on a response that is not post factum, but preventive. Pressure must be put on Moscow so that it does not expand the war," he said.
The U.S. Embassy alert followed Zelenskyy's statement, creating an unusual moment of alignment between Kyiv's public briefing and a foreign mission's security message. The U.S. Mission Ukraine reiterated the embassy's language in its advisory, emphasizing the immediacy of the threat and repeating that "the embassy, as always, recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced."
Zelenskyy also sought to separate everyday life from what he called reckless aggression: "We have given permission for a parade, but Russia has no permission for madness. This war must be ended – we need peace, not some missiles satisfying the sick ambitions of one individual. I thank everyone helping to protect lives. Once again, please take care of yourselves and use shelters tonight."
The tension in the moment is clear and procedural: Kyiv says its intelligence includes information from American and European partners and is working to verify the details, while a partner embassy has issued a stand-alone security alert that frames the risk as imminent. That gap — between public confirmation and urgent protective action advised by foreign missions — is what residents must confront now.
What happens next is concrete and consequential. For the next 24 hours, Ukrainians and foreign nationals in Kyiv and other parts of the country face the practical decision the president and the embassy stressed: be ready to shelter immediately if air-raid warnings sound. Ukraine is mobilizing its air-defence response as far as it can, and Zelenskyy promised that "Ukraine would respond fully and justly to every Russian strike."
The most pressing unanswered question is whether verification will confirm an Oreshnik missile launch and whether Kyiv's air defences and civil preparedness will prevent loss of life. For now, Zelenskyy's public appeal and the U.S. Embassy's alert are the clearest facts citizens have: prepare, shelter and wait for official air alerts over the coming 24 hours.
