En the day before celebrations marking the end of World War II in Russia, the Russian military launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine. According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army, civilians were again killed. In the night to Monday alone, 16 rocket attacks were counted, especially in the cities of Kharkiv, Cherson, Mykolaiv and the Odessa region. Kyiv was also attacked again.
In the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Russia intensified the heavy weapon fire. “Russians still hope to capture the city by May 9,” General Oleksandr Syrskyj said.
Preparations are underway in Moscow for Tuesday’s military parade to celebrate the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. The event is considered particularly symbolic this year because President Vladimir Putin originally justified the invasion of Ukraine with the aim of allegedly wanting to fight a kind of new fascism there. The government in Kiev and its allies reject this as an excuse and accuse Russia of waging a war of aggression against the neighboring ex-Soviet republic. The government in Moscow speaks of a special military operation. It has cost thousands of lives, forced millions to flee and destroyed entire cities.
“Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded civilians,” the Ukrainian general staff said in its daily situation report on Monday morning. Residential buildings and civilian infrastructure were damaged in the latest wave of attacks. Already on Sunday, 61 airstrikes and 52 attacks from rocket systems on positions of the Ukrainian army and inhabited areas were counted. All 35 drone attacks on targets in different parts of Ukraine were repelled, the military said.
During the latest wave of attacks, air alerts sounded for hours in about two-thirds of the country. According to the mayor of the capital, Vitali Klitschko, at least five people were injured in air raids on Kiev. According to Ukrainian sources, a food warehouse in the Black Sea port city of Odessa caught fire after Russian shelling. According to the military, eight places in the Sumy region in the north-east were also under increased Russian fire. According to media reports, explosions were heard in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson and in the Zaporizhia region in the south-east of the country.
All developments in the live ticker:
07:17 – Ukraine: Civilians killed in Russian attacks
According to the Ukrainian military, the intensified Russian attacks have again caused casualties among the population. “Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded civilians,” the General Staff said in its daily situation report. In the night alone there were 16 rocket attacks, mainly on the cities of Kharkiv, Cherson, Mykolaiv and the Odessa region.
All drone attacks were warded off, the military said. In total, Russia attacked various parts of Ukraine with 35 Iranian-made drones. Falling debris from the downed drones are responsible for damage in several areas.
In the port city of Odessa, the district military administration reported an airstrike in which a food warehouse was hit by an X-22 missile. This caused a fire. There is “no information about victims”.
One of the drones severely damaged a residential tower in Kiev
Which: REUTERS
05:01 – Ukraine: Offensive to cause panic
The expected offensive by the Ukrainian military to recapture occupied territories will “panic” Russia, according to Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Volodymyr Havrylov. The Russians still don’t understand that their propaganda gives them the wrong picture of the situation, Havrylov said in an interview with British newspaper The Independent. “This war will be won on the ground, not on TV screens or on the internet.”
The Kremlin hid the truth about Russian losses in this war from its own people for a long time. However, the offensive will change that. “You can’t fool your own people for years, especially when they see a difference on the front lines, when they see the dead and the wounded, when they see the families who have lost their homes,” he said.
02:34 – At least five people injured in airstrikes
According to Ukrainian sources, at least five people have been injured in Russian airstrikes on Kiev. Three people were injured in explosions in Kiev’s Solomjanskyj district, two others were wounded by wreckage from drones that fell on a two-storey building in the Sviatoshyn district, Mayor Vitali Klitschko writes in a telegram. The attacks continued. Local authorities said the air defense systems repelled the attacks.
01:11 – Governor: More than 1600 people taken away from Zaporizhia
Russia confirms the evacuation of the areas around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. About 1,679 people, including 660 children, were taken from the areas surrounding the nuclear power plant to the temporary accommodation center in Berdyansk, the Moscow-installed governor of the Russian-controlled part of the Zaporizhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said on his Telegram channel. Berdyansk is a southeastern Ukrainian port city on the Sea of Azov that has been occupied by Russia since the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
00:54 – Russia increases shelling of Bakhmut
According to Ukrainian military reports, Russia is stepping up shelling of Bakhmut in order to capture the city by Tuesday. Russian forces have intensified shelling of the city with heavy weapons, are using more modern equipment and are redeploying their troops, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s ground forces commander, said after a frontline visit to Bakhmut. “The Russians still hope to capture the city by May 9th. Our job is to thwart this.”
00:37 – Russia attacks with missiles
According to Ukrainian sources, Russia is again attacking the Black Sea city of Odessa and the capital Kiev. “There was an enemy missile attack,” writes Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the region’s military administration, on his Telegram channel. An explosion was heard after a rocket attack. Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reports a fire following an explosion in Odessa and the sound of explosions in Kherson. Air raid alarm went off in Kyiv. “Air defense is working in the outskirts of Kiev,” the Kiev military administration said. “Stay in the shelters until the air raid alarm goes off!”
23:00 – air alert in Ukraine – explosions over Odessa
In large parts of Ukraine, including the capital Kiev, an air alarm was briefly triggered in the evening. Explosions were heard over the port city of Odessa in the south of the country, possibly from the use of anti-aircraft defenses, the state agency Ukrinform reported. After a short time, however, the all-clear was given nationwide.
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