Ukrainian leader Zelensky said deadly attacks showed no change in Russia’s attitude on the war. He accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in Kyiv, including with cluster munitions, which disperse in the air and shower dozens of smaller explosive devices, or bomblets, indiscriminately over a large area.
Human Rights Watch reported in August an apparent increase in the use of the weapons, which are fired in rockets and missiles or dropped from aircraft. It said doing so could be a war crime.
Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what it hoped would be a swift attack to topple Zelensky and seize land. The war has instead become Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II. Hundreds of thousands have been killed, millions forced from their homes, and much of eastern and southern Ukraine destroyed.
Zelensky met Witkoff in Norway on Tuesday as relations between Kyiv and Washington fell to their worst state since Trump publicly berated Zelensky in the Oval Office in February 2025. In recent days, Trump has blocked new sanctions on Russia, struck a deal to buy Russian diesel, and called for the Ukrainian leader to be replaced.
Zelensky has backed resuming trilateral talks. Several rounds over the last 18 months have failed to move the sides closer to a deal. Russia is demanding that Ukraine pull out of territory in the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls, and wants sweeping political and military restrictions on the size of its army and on Western alliances. Ukraine rejects the demands as tantamount to a capitulation that would leave it exposed to a fresh attack.
Moscow said a summit between Trump, Putin and China’s Xi Jinping was being prepared in China for next month. Europeans and Ukraine worry a deal could be struck over their heads. Witkoff called his talks with Putin “constructive” but said “there is still important work left to do”, and technical-level talks would continue between all three sides. Putin has consistently rejected face-to-face talks with Zelensky and insisted Moscow intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine, either through a deal or on the battlefield.