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Kiev has criticized Russia for attacking several Ukrainian cities overnight with more than 100 combat drones and three missiles, despite a unilateral 24-hour ceasefire called by Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine's president had announced the ceasefire after the Kremlin said it wanted a ceasefire on Saturday during the annual military parade in Red Square, but he said he would retaliate if Vladimir Putin violated Ukraine's ceasefire, which ends at midnight on Wednesday.
Instead of ceasing operations, Moscow has intensified them, with a series of devastating bombardments of urban areas. On Tuesday, 28 civilians were killed in bomb and rocket attacks in the Donetsk, Poltava and Dnipro regions and dozens more were injured.
On Wednesday, Russian drones struck a kindergarten in the northeastern city of Sumy, killing one security guard and wounding two others, officials said. Fortunately, there were no children in the kindergarten at the time.
Russian attacks in 14 regions of Ukraine since last Friday have killed at least 70 civilians and wounded more than 500 others, the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine said on Wednesday.
"What is particularly alarming is both the scale of civilian casualties and the extent of territory affected in just a few days," said Danielle Bell, head of the mission.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the latest attacks showed Russia was rejecting peace. "This shows that the false calls for a ceasefire on May 9 have nothing to do with diplomacy. Putin is only interested in military parades, not human lives," he wrote on social media.
Sybiha added that "such a stance requires strong and increasing pressure on the Russian regime, including new rounds of sanctions, isolation, accountability for Russian crimes, and increased support for Ukraine in all areas."
Moscow's drone and bomb attacks on Tuesday were the deadliest in Ukraine in weeks. They came at a time when Russia's advances on the battlefield have virtually ground to a halt, with its armed forces losing more territory in April than they gained for the first time since 2024.
The Kremlin has taken extensive measures to protect Saturday's parade, which celebrates the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, after recent attacks by long-range Ukrainian drones on a range of targets. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the event will take place without a display of tanks and ballistic missiles.
Air defense systems have been moved to the Russian capital from other areas and the mobile internet network has been shut down, apparently as a security precaution. It is not clear whether Ukraine will seek to disrupt the event or target Russia's oil infrastructure and military-industrial sites.
Zelensky said the concentration of air defenses around Moscow would create "additional opportunities" for Ukraine to launch long-range strikes elsewhere in Russia. He said officials would decide on further action later in the day in response to Russia's latest attacks.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down 53 Ukrainian drones between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., far fewer than in previous days. It did not say whether any of the drones attacked after Kiev's unilateral ceasefire was supposed to take effect at midnight.
Five people were killed by a Ukrainian drone strike in the town of Dzhankoy in occupied Crimea, according to the Russian-installed governor, Sergei Aksyonov.
Talks to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II have shown little progress. Putin has refused to moderate demands first made during his full-scale invasion in 2022, including the handover of large swathes of Ukrainian territory and the removal of its pro-Western government.
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