Kyiv Hit by Cluster Warhead Missiles Hours After Russia Talks Pledge

Russia struck Kyiv with ballistic missiles in a hourslong nighttime barrage The Hill, just hours after Moscow agreed to resume peace talks with Ukraine Google News. The missiles carried cluster warheads designed to detonate in the air as they approached their targets, Zelensky said, spreading damage across a 400-meter-wide area Jerusalem Post.

At least four people were killed across Ukraine and dozens more were wounded in the attacks, officials said The Hill. In Kyiv, the bombardment killed at least one person and injured more than 20 others Kyiv Independent.

The strikes came hours after U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a humanitarian Kyiv Independent. Reporters in Kyiv asked residents about Witkoff’s comments in the immediate aftermath of the attack Kyiv Independent.

Russia’s military reported separately that its air defenses intercepted more than 800 Ukrainian drones fired at Moscow and other Russian cities The Hill.

The bombardment came as Ukrainian researchers have been working to understand Russia’s evolving weapons systems. At a government facility, a team focused on drones and electronic warfare recently examined a component recovered from a Russian Geran drone, a device used to measure the Earth’s magnetic field for navigation, found within the past week or two Kyiv Independent.

Ukraine also repatriated 252 bodies that Russia identified as Ukrainian soldiers Kyiv Independent. In prior exchanges, Russia had at times returned the bodies of its own soldiers to Kyiv, with Ukrainian officials alleging the practice may have been aimed at avoiding compensation payments to Russian families or reflected what they described as a negligent attitude toward their own people Kyiv Independent.