Overnight strikes hit Kyiv and other regions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of using cluster munitions overnight as it renewed attacks on Kyiv and other locations. Ukraine's foreign ministry said at least four people were killed. Zelenskyy said Thursday that another 34 people were injured, including five children.
He said twelve regions came under attack. One strike hit Pechersk, Kyiv's historic center, and damaged monastery buildings, homes, shops, cafés and other civilian infrastructure, according to the Ukrainian leader. He also said Russia has carried out 170 strikes on energy infrastructure sites across Ukraine since Oct. 11.
The cluster warhead allegation
In a post on X, Zelenskyy said Russia used several weapons against Kyiv, including three ballistic missiles with cluster warheads. "The distinguishing feature of these missiles is that they detonate in the air as they approach the target, striking everything within a 400-meter diameter," he wrote.
Cluster munitions scatter smaller bomblets over a wide area and can hit civilian sites indiscriminately, CBS News noted. More than 100 countries have banned them under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a treaty adopted in 2008. Russia did not sign it, and neither did the United States.
Russia's account and the diplomatic backdrop
Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 808 Ukrainian drones overnight and that two people were reported injured, The Associated Press reported. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 600 drones were fired toward the capital between late Wednesday and early Thursday.
The attacks came shortly after negotiations on ending the war, which also involved the United States, wrapped up in St. Petersburg. Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin there, and CBS reported that he called Putin a humanitarian, a remark that drew criticism. Around the same time, Russia released American Stephen Hubbard. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Moscow would study the proposals Witkoff brought but that the talks would take a long time.
Zelenskyy said the timing showed little had changed. "Almost immediately after another round of talks, Russia launched a pointed attack," he said. "This means there has been no real change in its attitude toward everything that is happening."
Dispute over U.S. support
Zelenskyy said earlier this week that if President Trump "cannot rein Putin in," he should provide the interceptor missiles Ukraine has long requested so it can defend itself.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio later said Trump has been "frustrated" by what he called false accusations that "he is doing things to deliberately harm Ukraine." Rubio insisted nothing had been "deliberately denied to Ukraine." He added: "It's simply, it's a balance between our obligations to other partners and frankly our own ... requirements for our own facilities as well."
