Ceasefire Spurned
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia ignored Ukraine's unilateral ceasefire by launching drone attacks on multiple cities. The Ukrainian president accused Russia of "active hostilities and terrorist shelling" that targeted the front line as well as civilian areas with dozens of drones and missiles. Russia has not addressed Ukraine’s ceasefire demand.
Kindergarten Hit
Local authorities reported that a kindergarten in the Sumy border region was struck on Wednesday morning, killing two people. No children were present at the time of the attack. The Sumy region was hit on Wednesday morning.
Accusations of Bad Faith
Andriy Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said Russia’s continued aggression shows that its "fake calls for a ceasefire on May 9th have nothing to do with diplomacy." Sybiha added that Vladimir Putin only cares about military parades, not human lives. He wrote on X that Russia had breached the ceasefire by launching 108 combat drones and three missiles at Ukrainian cities.
Civilian Casualties Mount
Strikes across eastern Ukraine on Tuesday killed at least 27 people and injured dozens more. Twelve people were killed and 20 injured in Zaporizhzhia after a Russian attack. Rehina Kharchenko, Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary, told Reuters that after an initial strike, the "enemy intentionally began attacking those locations with Shahed drones." Six people were killed and 12 injured in Kramatorsk, four people were killed in Dnipro, and five people were killed in a strike on gas production facilities in the Poltava region.
Victory Day Threat
Russia warned foreign diplomats in Kyiv that it would attack the city if Ukraine disrupted World War II commemorations in Moscow this weekend. The warning was delivered in a note to foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations on Wednesday. Russia threatened a "retaliatory strike" on the Ukrainian capital, "including against decision-making centres." Russia marks World War II Victory Day each year on May 9 with a military parade through Red Square.
Mutual Strikes Continue
Russia and Ukraine traded strikes on Thursday, wounding 13 people in the Russian border city of Bryansk and one person in Ukraine’s Dnipro. Ukraine also launched F-5 Flamingo cruise missiles at military-industrial complex facilities in Cheboksary, injuring three people. Ukrainian drones also reportedly attacked the Kirishi oil refinery in the Leningrad region, sparking a blaze in the town's industrial zone. Within hours of Ukraine's midnight deadline passing, authorities in Russian-occupied Crimea announced that five civilians had been killed in Dzhankoi in a Ukrainian drone attack.
Preparing for Retaliation
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had observed "additional rings of air defence" being built up around Moscow, with systems redeployed from other parts of Russia. He said this proved the Kremlin was "more concerned about its parade in Moscow" than about the rest of the country. The Russian defence ministry said it had downed 53 Ukrainian drones overnight into Wednesday. Moscow residents have been warned that their mobile internet access will be disrupted for security reasons on Saturday.
The sources also report that Andriy Sybiha stated Russia launched 108 combat drones and three missiles at Ukrainian cities, breaching the ceasefire.