Russia launches new wave of strikes on Ukraine ahead of Victory Day holiday

Russia launched a wave of drone, missile and airstrikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, officials said on Monday, as Moscow stepped up attacks as it prepared for the venerated Victory Day holiday to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

16 missile attacks have been targeted in the cities of Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions, in addition to 61 air strikes and 52 rocket salvos on Ukrainian positions and populated areas, the General Staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said in an update this morning. fighting.

Ukrainian air defenses destroyed all 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia, the military said.

Kyiv’s mayor said at least five people were injured in the capital due to damage to fuel depots, cars, buildings and infrastructure.

“Unfortunately, civilians were killed and wounded, high-rise buildings, private houses and other civilian infrastructure were damaged,” the military said.

A warehouse of food was burned in the Black Sea city of Odesa.

Reuters could not independently verify the report.

The new attacks come as Moscow prepares for Tuesday’s Victory parade, a key event for President Vladimir Putin who has fueled the spirit of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, accusing Ukraine of being in the grip of a new fascism.

Ukraine and its allies say the accusations are a baseless pretext for Russia’s surprise invasion in February 2022, sparking Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, killing thousands and forcing millions to flee the country.

Russia steps up attack on Bakhmut

“We must always be ready for treachery and defense of the enemy,” Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Hanna Malyar said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia stepped up shelling from Bakhmut, hoping to take it on Tuesday, the top general of Ukraine who led the defense of the besieged city said, after a group of mercenary Wagner Russia appeared to ditch plans to withdraw from it.

Three people were injured in an explosion in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district and two when debris from a drone fell in Sviatoshyn district, both west of the center of the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Kyiv’s military government said the wreckage of the drone fell on the runway at Zhuliany airport, one of the capital’s two passenger airports, drawing emergency services there, although there was no fire.

Flying debris appeared to have hit a two-story building in the central district of Shevchenkivskyi, causing damage, it added.

Reuters witnesses said they heard multiple explosions in Kyiv, with local officials saying air defense systems repelled the attack.

Flames have completely engulfed a large structure identified as a food warehouse in a picture sent on Telegram by Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the military administration of Odesa, after what he said was a Russian attack.

After hours of airstrikes hit more than two-thirds of Ukraine, media said explosions occurred in the southern regions of Kherson and southeastern Zaporizhzhia.

Vladimir Rogov, an official stationed in Russia in Zaporizhzhia, said Russian forces attacked warehouses and Ukrainian troop positions in the small town of Orikhiv. Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Separately, Russian forces attacked eight points in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine on Sunday, the regional military administration said in a Facebook post.

Attacks have also increased in the past two weeks on Russian-held targets, particularly in Crimea.

Ukraine has not confirmed any role in the attack, but says it destroyed enemy infrastructure in preparation for a long-awaited ground attack.