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The United States has accused Russia of a “dangerous and inexplicable escalation” of its nearly four-year war in Ukraine, at a time when US President Donald Trump is trying to advance negotiations towards peace.

The US issued its latest warning on Monday, during an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

“Russia’s action risks expanding and intensifying the war,” Tammy Bruce, the US’s deputy ambassador to the UN, told the council.

The US expressed particular alarm about Russia’s use of a nuclear-capable Oreshnik ballistic missile last week, which resulted in a “staggering number of casualties” in Ukraine.

“At a moment of tremendous potential, due only to President Trump’s unparalleled commitment to peace around the world, both sides should be seeking ways to de-escalate,” Bruce said.

Still, hours later on Tuesday morning, Russia launched a new round of strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv, killing at least four people and wounding at least six others.

Missile strikes were also reported in the capital, Kyiv, but their impact could not be immediately assessed.

Ukraine called for the Security Council meeting after Russia bombarded the country last Thursday with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, including the Oreshnik missile.

That attack was only the second time Russia had launched the powerful Oreshnik missile in a combat scenario, and its use was widely interpreted as a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies.

At Monday’s meeting, Bruce reminded Russia that, nearly a year ago, it voted in favour of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

“In the spirit of that resolution, Russia, Ukraine and Europe must pursue peace seriously and bring this nightmare to an end.”

On Monday, Moscow acknowledged the Oreshnik attack, which it said targeted an aviation repair factory in the Lviv region in western Ukraine. It said the missile was fired in response to Ukraine’s attempt to strike one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residences, a claim that Kyiv has denied and the US has dismissed as inaccurate.

Last week’s large-scale Russian attack came days after Ukraine and its Western allies reported progress towards an agreement to defend the country from further Moscow aggression if a US-led peace deal is struck.

The attack also coincided with a new chill in relations between Moscow and Washington.

The Kremlin recently condemned the US seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic, calling the military action a violation of international law. Trump, meanwhile, has signalled that he is on board with a hard-hitting sanctions package meant to economically cripple Russia.

Moscow has given no public signal it is willing to budge from its maximalist demands on Ukraine, including that the global community recognise its annexation of Ukrainian territory.

At Monday’s Security Council meeting, Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, instead blamed the diplomatic impasse on Ukraine.

Nebenzia said that, until Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “comes to his senses and agrees to realistic conditions for negotiations, we will continue solving the problem by military means”.

“He was warned long ago, with each passing day, each day which he squanders, the conditions for negotiations will only get worse for him,” Nebenzia added.

Ukraine’s UN ambassador, Andrii Melnyk, countered that Russia is more vulnerable now than at any time since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with its economy slowing and oil revenue down.

“Russia wants to sell to this council and the whole UN family the impression that it is invincible, but this is another illusion,” he told the council.

“The carefully staged image of strength is nothing but smoke and mirrors, completely detached from reality.”

Early on Tuesday, Kharkiv Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov confirmed the deaths of at least four people and the wounding of six others following the latest Russian strike.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov also said a Russian long-range drone struck a medical facility for children, causing a fire.

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defences were in operation after Russia launched missiles targeting the city.

United States Senator Mark Kelly has sued the Department of Defense and its secretary, Pete Hegseth, over allegations they trampled his rights to free speech by embarking on a campaign of “punitive retribution”.

The complaint was filed on Monday in the US district court in Washington, DC. It also names the Department of the Navy and its secretary, John Phelan, as defendants.

“I filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of Defense because there are few things as important as standing up for the rights of the very Americans who fought to defend our freedoms,” Kelly, a veteran, wrote in a statement on social media.

Kelly’s lawsuit is the latest escalation in a feud that first erupted in November, when a group of six Democratic lawmakers – all veterans of the US armed services or its intelligence community – published a video online reminding military members of their responsibility to “refuse illegal orders”.

Democrats framed the video as a simple reiteration of government policy: Courts have repeatedly ruled that service members do indeed have a duty to reject orders they know to violate US law or the Constitution.

But Republican President Donald Trump and his allies have denounced the video as “seditious behaviour” and called for the lawmakers to face punishment.

A focus on Kelly

Kelly, in particular, has faced a series of actions that critics describe as an unconstitutional attack on his First Amendment right to free speech.

A senator from the pivotal swing state of Arizona, Kelly is one of the highest-profile lawmakers featured in November’s video.

He is also considered a rising star in the Democratic Party and is widely speculated to be a candidate for president or vice president in the 2028 elections.

But before his career in politics, Kelly was a pilot in the US Navy who flew missions during the Gulf War. He retired at the rank of captain. Kelly was also selected to be an astronaut, along with his twin Scott Kelly, and they served as part of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

His entry into politics came after his wife, former Representative Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head during a 2011 assassination attempt. On Monday, Kelly described the Senate as “a place I never expected to find myself in”.

“My wife Gabby was always the elected official in our family,” he told his Senate colleagues. “If she had never been shot in the head, she would be here in this chamber and not me. But I love this country, and I felt that I had an obligation to continue my public service in a way that I never expected.”

Kelly’s participation in the November video has placed him prominently within the Trump administration’s crosshairs, and officials close to the president have taken actions to condemn his statements.

Shortly after the video came out, for instance, the Defense Department announced it had opened an investigation into Kelly. It warned that the senator could face a court-martial depending on the results of the probe.

The pressure on Kelly continued this month, when Hegseth revealed on social media that he had submitted a formal letter of censure against the senator.

That letter accused Kelly of “conduct unbecoming of an office” and alleged he had “undermined the chain of command” through his video.

Hegseth explained that the letter sought to demote Kelly from the rank he reached at his retirement, as well as reduce his retirement pay.

“Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline,” Hegseth wrote on the platform X.

“As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice. And the Department of War — and the American people — expect justice.”

Attacking political speech

Kelly responded to that claim by alleging that Hegseth had embarked on a campaign of politically motivated retribution, designed to silence any future criticism from US military veterans.

“Pete Hegseth is coming after what I earned through my twenty-five years of military service, in violation of my rights as an American, as a retired veteran, and as a United States Senator,” Kelly wrote on social media on Monday.

“His unconstitutional crusade against me sends a chilling message to every retired member of the military: if you speak out and say something that the President or Secretary of Defense doesn’t like, you will be censured, threatened with demotion, or even prosecuted.”

Kelly also took to the floor of the Senate on Monday to defend his decision to sue officials from the Trump administration.

“Every service member knows that military rank is earned. It’s not given. It’s earned through the risks you take,” Kelly told his fellow senators.

“After my 25 years of service, I earned my rank as a captain in the United States Navy. Now, Pete Hegseth wants even our longest-serving military veterans to live with the constant threat that they could be deprived of their rank and retirement pay years or even decades after they leave the military, just because he or another secretary of defence or a president doesn’t like what they’ve said.”

His lawsuit calls for the federal court system to halt the proceedings against him and declare Hegseth’s letter of censure unlawful.

The court filing makes a twofold argument: that the efforts to discipline Kelly not only violate his free speech rights but also constitute an attack on legislative independence, since they allegedly seek to intimidate a member of Congress.

“It appears that never in our nation’s history has the Executive Branch imposed military sanctions on a Member of Congress for engaging in disfavored political speech,” the lawsuit asserts.

The complaint also accuses the Trump administration of violating Kelly’s right to due process, given the high-profile calls from within the government to punish the senator.

It pointed to social media posts Trump made, including one that signalled he felt Kelly’s behaviour amounted to “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOUR, punishable by DEATH”.

The lawsuit also argues that Hegseth’s letter of censure appeared to draw conclusions about Kelly’s alleged wrongdoing, only to then request that the Navy review his military rank and retirement benefits.

Such a review, the lawsuit contends, can therefore not be considered a fair assessment of the facts.