Zelenskyy says Russian missiles with cluster warheads strike Kyiv

Russian missiles struck Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine overnight, killing at least four people, according to Ukraine’s foreign ministry. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of using cluster warheads in the assault, which came hours after a U.S. envoy met President Vladimir Putin for talks on the war.

Zelenskyy said Thursday that 34 people were injured across Ukraine, including five children, and that 12 regions came under attack. In Kyiv, at least two people were killed and 22 wounded, including four children, The Guardian reported. The newspaper said the capital’s damaged sites included civilian homes, energy infrastructure, an ambulance station, offices and a clinic.

“Last night, the Russians used, among other weapons against Kyiv, three ballistic missiles with cluster warheads,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. Such missiles detonate as they approach a target, scattering smaller explosives over a wide area. Zelenskyy said one strike hit Pechersk, Kyiv’s historic center, damaging monastery buildings, homes, shops and cafés.

The attack followed Wednesday’s meeting in St. Petersburg between Putin and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. According to The Guardian, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said Putin had agreed “in principle” to resume negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States after Nov. 10. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would study proposals Witkoff brought to the meeting, though the talks would take a long time, CBS News reported.

During the meeting, Witkoff told Putin: “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that,” The Guardian reported. Hours later, Zelenskyy wrote that Russian “humanitarians” had launched three waves of ballistic missiles at Kyiv since Wednesday evening, using 21 missiles.

“Almost immediately after another round of talks, Russia launched a pointed attack,” Zelenskyy said. “This means there has been no real change in its attitude toward everything that is happening.” He called for stronger air defenses, including Patriot interceptors, and more sanctions against Moscow. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said “appeasement, servility and flattery” would not stop Russian aggression. Downing Street said it did not recognize Witkoff’s description of Putin, The Guardian reported.

More than 100 countries have banned cluster munitions under a 2008 treaty, which neither Russia nor the United States signed, CBS News reported. Zelenskyy also said Russian forces had struck Ukrainian energy infrastructure 170 times since Oct. 11.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 808 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to CBS News, citing The Associated Press. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 600 drones had been fired toward the capital. Local authorities in Russia’s Belgorod region said a Ukrainian aerial strike killed one man and wounded another, The Guardian reported.

The strikes also came hours after Russia released American Stephen Hubbard, CBS News reported. Earlier in the week, Zelenskyy urged President Donald Trump to provide interceptor missiles if he could not “rein Putin in.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump was frustrated by claims that he was deliberately harming Ukraine. Nothing had been “deliberately denied to Ukraine,” Rubio said, while citing U.S. obligations to other partners and its own needs.