Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to strike Kyiv with ballistic missiles he claims cannot be shot down by any air defence system.
The Oreshnik missiles are a new intermediate-range weapon that Putin says are “comparable in strength to a nuclear strike” if used several times on a single location.
Claims around the abilities and power of the Oreshnik's has been met with scepticism by both Western weapons experts and Ukrainian officials.
The Russian president said his Ministry of Defence and the General Staff were selecting the range of targets deemed to be “decision making centres” across Ukraine.
In response, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was escalating to a “despicable” level.
The Ukrainian government ministries, parliament or the president's office have not been hit by Russia so far across the course of the 33-month war.
Zelensky also confirmed he was speaking to several Western leaders, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, on how to respond to “Russia's attempt to make the situation more unbearable and drag out the war”.
Moscow said their new threats were in response to a decision earlier this month with the U.S., Britain and France allowing Ukraine to fire long-range missiles against military targets in Russia.
The missiles were provided by the allied countries, which was something Ukraine had long requested.