Extract from ABC News
The aftermath of a Russian air strike in Zaporizhzhia. (Reuters: Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine)
In short:
At least 22 people have been killed across Ukraine after Russian missile and drone attacks.
The attacks came hours before Kyiv was due to enact a ceasefire.
Russia also targeted Ukraine's power grid.
Russian drone and missile strikes have killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 80 others, Ukrainian authorities say.
The strikes came hours before Kyiv was due to enact a ceasefire and three days before Moscow's own pause in hostilities.
On Tuesday afternoon, local time, powerful Russian glide bombs smashed into the eastern city of Kramatorsk, the southern city of Zaporizhzhia and the northern city of Chernihiv, killing at least 17 civilians and wounding 45 others, officials said.
Attacks the previous night killed five people and wounded 39, according to authorities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of "utter cynicism" for launching the attacks after it announced a unilateral, two-day ceasefire later this week to mark the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
"Russia could cease fire at any moment, and this would stop the war and our responses," Mr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
"Peace is needed, and real steps are needed to achieve it. Ukraine will act in kind."
The Russian Defence Ministry declared a unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine for Friday and Saturday, but said that it would strike back at the country if it tried to disrupt Victory Day events on May 9.
Ukraine's power grid targeted again
Russian forces fired 11 Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 164 strike drones at Ukraine from Monday to Tuesday, local time, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
Air defence units stopped 149 drones and one missile, and two ballistic missiles failed to reach their targets, the air force said.
Russia has repeatedly hammered Ukraine's energy infrastructure during the war, which began on February 24, 2022. It hit natural gas production facilities in Ukraine's central Poltava and north-eastern Kharkiv regions, according to state energy company Naftogaz.
The aftermath of a Russian strike in Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region. (Reuters: Press Service of the 24th King Danylo Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces)
The company said Naftogaz facilities have come under attack 107 times since the beginning of the year.
Mr Zelenskyy said that the Poltava attack was "especially vile" because Russia launched a second missile at the same target when emergency rescuers were working at the scene.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Russia's main targets were energy facilities, oil and gas infrastructure, railways and industrial sites, although the attacks also damaged homes, businesses and the transportation network.
She said Russia's ceasefire proposals "remain only statements".
Russian territory hit by Ukrainian cruise missiles
Ukraine also kept up its long-range attacks on Russian rear areas, apparently aiming at more oil facilities in an effort to further disrupt Moscow's war economy.
The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces destroyed 289 Ukrainian drones overnight in 18 Russian regions.
Drones were also intercepted over the occupied Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and over the Sea of Azov, it said.
Ukraine launched F-5 Flamingo cruise missiles at targets, including military-industrial facilities in Cheboksary, located more than 1,500 kilometres away, Mr Zelenskyy said.
The regional health ministry said a Ukrainian drone attack wounded three people in the city.
Ukrainian drones also attacked the Kirishi oil refinery in the Leningrad region close to St Petersburg, sparking a blaze in the town's industrial zone, local governor Alexander Drozdenko said.
Mr Drozdenko said on social media that 29 Ukrainian drones had been shot down during the attack. No casualties were reported.
Increase in Ukrainian strikes, report says
Ukraine doubled its mid-range strikes on Russia in April compared with March and quadrupled them compared with February, according to a monthly battlefield report from Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov that was published on Tuesday.
The mid-range attacks were focused on enemy warehouses, command posts, air defence systems, and supply lines, located up to about 160 kilometres behind the front line.
Ukrainian ground robots completed 10,281 resupply and evacuation missions in April, an average of almost 343 per day, according to Mr Fedorov.
It was not possible to independently confirm the claims.
AP
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