Russia Fires Cluster-Warhead Missiles at Kyiv, Zelenskyy Says
Russia fired three ballistic missiles carrying cluster warheads into Kyiv on October 22, 2026, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The Guardian reported that the strike came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to resume talks with Ukraine.
Cluster munitions are weapons that scatter many smaller explosive units over an area. Ukrainian Defence Ministry senior adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said the warheads used in the Kyiv attack detonate above the ground and are designed to inflict maximum damage on people and equipment within an area of 400 by 400 metres. Al Jazeera carried his description.
The attacks followed an earlier strike on the capital. On the evening of October 21, Russian forces attacked Kyiv with ballistic missiles, damaging homes, and six people were injured, Reuters reported. On October 22, a woman was wounded in a Russian cluster munition attack in Kyiv, according to Reuters.
The talks Putin agreed to are the same diplomatic track that the attacks came around. Putin agreed to resume US-mediated trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States as soon as next month, Reuters reported on October 21. Kremlin aide Ushakov said the talks will focus on building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends, PBS NewsHour reported. The two sides remain divided over territorial control, security guarantees and the terms for ending the war.
On the battlefield, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian soldiers had liberated more territory since the start of autumn 2026 than Russian forces had captured in the same period. Ukrainian General Staff spokesman Andriy Kovalev denied Russian claims to have seized 1,800 square kilometres (700 square miles) of Ukrainian territory this autumn. The Institute for the Study of War assessed that Ukraine had made a net gain of 241 square kilometres (93 square miles) since September 1, 2026, which it said effectively erased Russian territorial gains in 2026.
Ukraine also published estimates of Russian losses. It said Russia lost 46,230 soldiers in September, its highest monthly figure of the year, and 37,000 so far in October. Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, said October 21 marked Russia's highest daily losses of the war, at 2,250. Ukraine estimated more than 350,000 Russian dead and wounded since the beginning of 2026.
Cluster munitions have caused harm far beyond this month's strikes. Reuters reported in September that cluster munitions killed or wounded at least 1,063 people in 2025, most of them in Ukraine, the third-highest annual toll on record.
