BUCHA, Ukraine Projectiles called flechettes are rarely seen or used in modern conflict, experts have said, but a Russian artillery shell carrying them burst somewhere overhead outside Kyiv days before the Russians withdrew late last month, seeding the area with thousands of potentially lethal darts.
At 3 centimeters in length, these fléchettes look like tiny arrows. They have a long history in war a version of them was dropped from airplanes in World War I and used by the U.S. in Vietnam but are not in common use today.