The Russia-Ukraine war continues and the intensity has quadrupled in the last few hours. Russia launched massive-scale strikes on Ukrainian cities ahead of the Victory Day Parade. According to multiple reports, it has been claimed that at least 4 persons have been killed in this strike.
However, Ukraine has fought back harder this time. According to a report by the Associated Press, Ukraine air defences have shot down 35 drones over Kyiv in Russia’s latest nighttime assault, as attacks across Ukraine by the Kremlin’s forces killed four civilians, officials said on Monday.
Russia-Ukraine War – Point-by-point look on top updates from the war-torn region:
– Russia escalated its attack on Ukraine by launching one of the biggest drone strikes on Monday. This is ahead of May 9, which is celebrated as the Victory Day Parade. The Parade marks the holiday celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany. Kyiv’s mayor, as per a Reuters report, said that Russia had fired 60 Iranian-made kamikaze drones at Ukrainian targets. Out of these 36 were fired at the capital, all of which, the mayor says, had been shot down. The bombardment did injure at least five people.
– Apart from the drone strikes, there were also Russian artillery shelling which ended up wounding eight people in Ukraine’s Kherson region on Monday, reported Reuters. Out of these eight, six civilians were injured in the village of Stanislav, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. The report further claimed that two others were wounded on the outskirts of Kherson, military administration chief Roman Mrochko said.
– In another major update, Ukraine’s reconstruction ministry has said that Russia has refused to register the incoming vessels and thus, stopped the Black sea grain deal. A Reuters report said that the ministry in a statement stated, “The Russian Federation once again effectively stopped the “Grain Initiative” by refusing to register incoming vessels and carry out their inspections. This approach contradicts the terms of the current agreement.”
– Separately, Russia had also shelled eight spots in Ukraine’s Sumy region on Sunday, the regional military administration said in a Facebook post, reported Reuters. Russian-held spots like Crimea are now seeing more strikes in the past two weeks, as per the report. Ukraine has not confirmed its role in these attacks.
– Lastly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy marked Victory Day on May 8 rather than on May 9 and announced that he had signed a decree to change the date of the holiday in line with the practice of Western allies, a Reuters report said. “Recalling the heroism of millions of Ukrainians in that war against Nazism, we see the same heroism in the actions of our soldiers today,” Zelenskiy said.
(With Agency Inputs)