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Russia Hits Historic Kyiv With Cluster Missile Designed to Maximize Damage Across Wide Area
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Russian forces struck Kyiv’s historic center overnight on October 22 with an Iskander ballistic missile carrying a K5 cluster warhead designed to spread explosive submunitions across a wide area.
This was reported by Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on defense technologies, in a Telegram post published on October 22.
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“This strike was not carried out for a military purpose. The goal was to destroy part of the old city and injure as many people as possible,” Beskrestnov wrote.
Beskrestnov said the warhead disperses 58 explosive submunitions over an area of roughly 400 by 400 meters. He described the configuration as intended to maximize damage to personnel and equipment across a wide area.
The broader overnight attack on Kyiv killed one person and injured 22 others, including four children, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. Authorities reported damage across six districts of the capital.
The Iskander-M is a Russian road-mobile, short-range ballistic missile system capable of striking targets up to approximately 500 kilometers away. Its 9M723 ballistic missile can carry several types of warheads, including conventional high-explosive and cluster configurations.
Unlike a conventional warhead that concentrates its explosive force around a single impact point, a cluster warhead disperses multiple explosive elements across a larger area. This substantially increases the danger to people and vehicles within its coverage zone, particularly in densely populated urban environments.
The cluster strike came just three days after another large-scale Russian assault on the capital. Overnight on October 19, Russian forces launched ballistic and cruise missiles along with 269 drones at Kyiv and the surrounding region, killing at least two people and injuring 14 others, including three children.
The attack damaged residential buildings, medical facilities, educational institutions and a metro station, and the ballistic missiles reportedly reached the capital without advance warning. The assault followed the US resumption of intelligence sharing with Ukraine on October 18 after a temporary suspension, restoring a key source of early warnings about incoming Russian missiles.
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-2a1646737344cdcf3a03bdb85e4e4533.png "Footage released by Ukraine’s Khyzhak Brigade shows a strike on a Russian BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket system concealed inside a shelter. (Source: Joint Forces Task Force)")
-72b63a4e0c8c475ad81fe3eed3f63729.jpeg "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")
-9fc3cf73e00823179b7f7cb9b3c735e8.jpeg "Damage to a building in Kyiv following a Russian ballistic attack on the capital. (Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine)")
