A string of Ukrainian cities woke up under attack. According to Ukrainian sources, on 26 June Russian missiles and drones hit several targets across the country - but behind the heavy headlines and the talk of the „scariest missile," the real picture is far murkier than it looks at first glance.

What is actually known? In Kyiv, in the Darnytsia district, a fire broke out in a warehouse, and residents reported a sharp chemical smell; air defence was activated. In Kremenchuk, a thermal power plant was allegedly hit with an „Iskander-M" missile, and a refinery is mentioned too, though that remains unconfirmed. Strikes were also reported in Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia, where a drone attack sparked a fire.

And now the part the tabloids skip: for the alleged use of the hypersonic „Oreshnik" missile, written up in the biggest letters, there is no confirmation. The report itself admits that „for now there is no full data on casualties, the scale of the damage and the exact targets hit." In other words - a lot of noise, few verified facts.

This is a pattern the Balkans know all too well. Every attack in this war comes wrapped in superlatives from both sides: one celebrates a „historic strike," the other a „fully repelled attack." The truth usually sits somewhere in the middle, pale and unproven, while propaganda runs ahead. When a missile becomes a headline before it's even confirmed it launched, we're not reading news - we're reading psychological warfare.

Behind every one of these „sensations" are real people in basements and real cities in smoke. That's the part that doesn't change, no matter which source writes the text. The question that remains is simple: how long will this war be measured in headlines instead of confirmed facts?