A few hours after he was bombed, we asked people in Kiev about Vitkoff's praise of Putin.

Hours after US special envoy Steve Witkoff called Vladimir Putin a "humanitarian" during talks in St Petersburg, a barrage of Russian missiles hit central Kiev, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20.

On a street covered in shattered glass, residents pick up the shards while dealing with Witkoff's words.

"We thought it was a war and the destruction of Ukraine, but it turns out it was a human act," Natalya Stativko, a former journalist, told the Kyiv Independent on a street destroyed by one of the missiles. .

"Now we will die and bury our children, knowing that this is a human act."

Photo: Diego Fedella / Getty Images.