Russia appears to have fielded a new variant of its Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile fitted with a cluster warhead, according to footage and damage assessments from two western Ukrainian cities this month. Video verified by open-source analysts shows at least three Kh-101s striking Lutsk in Volyn Oblast on 9 July, leaving large impact patterns consistent with sub-munition dispersal and triggering fires across several sites near the city centre. A second strike on 11 July hit Chernivtsi, about 25 km from Romania’s NATO border. Ukraine’s emergency service said the attack killed two people and injured 14, and published images of dozens of small craters that analysts say match the Kh-101 cluster configuration. If confirmed, it would mark the first documented use of a cluster-armed Kh-101, a weapon with a range of roughly 2,485 miles traditionally used against point targets such as energy facilities. The sighting suggests Moscow is adapting its principal long-range missile for area effects after months of high-intensity attacks. Defense researchers say Russia has boosted Kh-101 production to about 50 units a month despite Western sanctions, potentially allowing more frequent salvos deep inside Ukraine. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has signed the international convention banning cluster munitions. The missile incidents capped a month of intensified aerial pressure. On 30 July, Ukraine reported up to 120 Shahed-type drones headed for multiple regions, with at least 30 aimed at Kyiv. Explosions set a multi-storey residential building ablaze in the capital, underscoring the expanding mix of cruise-missile and drone strikes faced by Ukrainian air defences.