Russia steps up strikes on Ukraine ahead of May 9 Victory Day holiday By Reuters

(This Could 7 story has been refiled to right typo to learn ‘stepped up’ in paragraph 1)

By Valentyn Ogorenko and Gleb Garanich

KYIV (Reuters) – Russia launched a wave of drone, missile and air strikes on Kyiv and different Ukrainian cities, officers mentioned on Monday, as Moscow stepped up assaults whereas making ready for its cherished Victory Day vacation celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

As many as 16 missile strikes had focused the cities of Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa areas, along with 61 airstrikes and 52 rocket salvos on Ukrainian positions and populated areas, the Normal Workers of Ukraine’s armed forces mentioned in its morning replace on the combating.

Ukrainian air defences destroyed all 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones Russia had launched, the army mentioned.

Kyiv’s mayor mentioned at the very least 5 folks have been wounded within the capital amid harm to a gas depot, vehicles, buildings and infrastructure.

“Sadly, there are lifeless and wounded civilians, high-rise buildings, non-public houses and different civilian infrastructure have been broken,” the army mentioned.

A meals warehouse was set ablaze within the Black Sea metropolis of Odesa.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the reviews.

The contemporary assaults come as Moscow prepares for Tuesday’s Victory Day parade, a key occasion for President Vladimir Putin who has evoked the spirit of the Soviet conquer Nazi Germany, having accused Ukraine of being within the grip of a brand new sort of fascism.

Ukraine and its allies say the accusation was a baseless pretext for Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February, 2022, which resulted within the greatest battle in Europe since World Battle Two, killing hundreds and forcing thousands and thousands to flee the nation.

“We should at all times be ready for enemy treachery and defence,” Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar mentioned in a put up on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia stepped up shelling of Bakhmut, hoping to take it by Tuesday, Ukraine’s high basic main the besieged metropolis’s defence mentioned, after Russia’s Wagner mercenary group appeared to ditch plans to withdraw from it.

Three folks have been injured in blasts in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district and two when drone wreckage fell within the Sviatoshyn district, each west of the capital’s centre, Mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned on Telegram.

Kyiv’s army administration mentioned drone wreckage fell on a runway at Zhuliany airport, one of many capital’s two passenger airports, drawing emergency companies there, though there was no hearth.

Drone particles appeared to have hit a two-storey constructing within the central district of Shevchenkivskyi, inflicting harm, it added.

Reuters witnesses mentioned they heard quite a few explosions in Kyiv, with native officers saying air defence programs have been repelling the assaults.

Flames had fully engulfed a big construction recognized as a meals warehouse in footage posted on Telegram by Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa army administration, after what he mentioned was a Russian assault.

After air raid alerts blared for hours over roughly two-thirds of Ukraine, media mentioned explosions sounded within the southern area of Kherson and southeastern Zaporizhzhia.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in Zaporizhzhia, mentioned Russian forces hit a warehouse and Ukrainian troops’ place within the small metropolis of Orikhiv. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the report.

Individually, Russian forces shelled eight spots in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine on Sunday, the regional army administration mentioned in a Fb (NASDAQ:) put up.

Strikes have additionally intensified prior to now two weeks on Russian-held targets, particularly in Crimea.

Ukraine has not confirmed any function in these assaults however it says destroying enemy infrastructure is preparation for its long-awaited floor assault.