Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Russia struck Kyiv overnight with three ballistic missiles carrying cluster munition warheads, in a disclosure that adds a new and graver dimension to the overnight barrage on the Ukrainian capital that Awaaz Punjab reported earlier today.

Source: Reuters via AnewZ

Zelenskyy said the warheads were designed to detonate in the air as they approach their targets, spreading damage across an area about 400 metres in diameter. One of them, he said, struck Kyiv's historic Pecherskyi district, in the area near the monastic buildings of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, damaging monastery buildings, homes, shops and cafés nearby.

“This was a deliberate choice of weapon and area of deployment,” Zelenskyy said, maintaining there were no military installations in the vicinity. He also said Russia had struck Ukraine's critical energy facilities more than 170 times since October 11.

Claims not independently verified

Moscow did not immediately comment on the cluster-warhead claim, and Reuters reported that the claims could not be independently verified. Cluster munitions scatter explosive submunitions over a wide area; more than 100 countries ban them under a 2008 convention that Russia, Ukraine and the United States have not joined.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

Zelenskyy said 21 ballistic missiles were fired at Kyiv in three waves in total during the overnight attack, which came hours after the Kremlin agreed in principle to resume US-brokered trilateral peace talks after November 10, following a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg. Writing on X, Zelenskyy said attacks hit 12 regions overnight and reported at least four people killed and 34 injured, including five children — figures attributed to the Ukrainian side.

Source: CBS News via NewsCord

Russia, for its part, said its air defences downed 808 Ukrainian drones overnight, and Moscow's mayor said more than 600 drones were sent toward the capital region — claims from the Russian side that are also reported here as claims, not settled fact.