KYIV, Ukraine — Russian drone and missile strikes overnight and on Tuesday killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 80, Ukrainian authorities said, hours before Kyiv planned to implement a ceasefire and three days before Moscow announced its own temporary pause.
Powerful Russian glide bombs struck the eastern city of Kramatorsk, the southern city of Zaporizhzhia and the northern city of Chernihiv on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 17 civilians and wounding 45, officials said. Attacks the previous night killed five people and wounded 39.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned Moscow for what he called “utter cynicism,” noting the attacks came after Russia declared a unilateral ceasefire for two days tied to its Victory Day observances. “Russia could cease fire at any moment, and this would stop the war and our responses,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Peace is needed, and real steps are needed to achieve it. Ukraine will act in kind.” He said Ukraine would observe a ceasefire beginning at the end of Tuesday and would mirror Russia’s actions from that point, without specifying an end date.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it would halt operations on Friday and Saturday but warned it would retaliate if Ukraine attempted to disrupt Victory Day events on May 9. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the unilateral pauses and “looks forward to their successful implementation,” with a U.N. spokesman reiterating a call for “a full, immediate, unconditional and lasting ceasefire.”
Moscow’s holiday-timed suspensions follow a familiar pattern of short unilateral ceasefires during the war, which began in February 2022. Such pauses have produced little trust or tangible results amid stalled diplomatic efforts.
Zelenskyy, who was in Bahrain on Tuesday, proposed a bilateral drone-defense partnership with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and offered to share Ukraine’s air-defense expertise with Gulf states. He and Ukrainian officials have been assisting Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan with drone and air-defense know-how, citing parallels between Iranian-sponsored strikes in the Gulf and Russia’s use of Shahed-style drones against Ukraine.
Ukraine reported that Russian forces fired 11 Iskander-M ballistic missiles and launched 164 strike drones overnight, including a jet-powered Shahed variant. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 149 drones and one missile, while two ballistic missiles failed to reach their targets, the air force said. Russian strikes hit energy infrastructure, including gas facilities in Poltava and Kharkiv regions; state energy firm Naftogaz said its facilities have been attacked 107 times so far this year. Zelenskyy called a follow-up strike on Poltava “especially vile” because a second missile was fired while rescuers were on the scene. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Russia’s main targets have been energy, oil and gas infrastructure, railways and industrial sites, though homes and businesses have also been damaged.
Ukraine continued long-range attacks on Russian rear areas. Kyiv said it launched F-5 Flamingo cruise missiles at military-industrial targets in Cheboksary, roughly 1,500 kilometers away; a regional health ministry reported three wounded there. Ukrainian drones also struck the Kirishi oil refinery in the Leningrad region, sparking a blaze; regional authorities said 29 drones were shot down and no casualties were reported. Moscow’s Defense Ministry claimed it destroyed 289 Ukrainian drones overnight across 18 Russian regions and intercepted drones over Crimea and the Azov Sea.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov reported that midrange strikes into Russian-held territory doubled in April compared with March and quadrupled versus February, targeting warehouses, command posts, air defenses and supply lines up to about 160 kilometers behind the front. He also said Ukrainian ground robots carried out 10,281 resupply and evacuation missions in April, an average of nearly 343 per day. Independent verification of some claims was not available.