KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian drone and missile strikes targeting Ukraine’s power grid during the night killed at least five people and wounded 39 others, Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday, less than a day before Kyiv said that it would enact a ceasefire and three days before Moscow promised its own pause in hostilities.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rebuked Moscow for what he said was its “utter cynicism” in launching the attacks after Russia announced a unilateral ceasefire over two days later this week while it marks 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,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. “Peace is needed, and real steps are needed to achieve it. Ukraine will act in kind.”
The proposal to stop fighting follows a familiar pattern of Russia declaring short unilateral ceasefires during the war timed to various holidays, most recently Orthodox Easter. Those suspensions of combat don’t produce any tangible results amid deep mistrust between Moscow and Kyiv more than four years after Russia launched an all-out invasion of its neighbor. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the war have come to nothing.
The Russian Defense Ministry declared a unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine for Friday and Saturday, but said that it would strike back at the country, if it tries to disrupt the festivities on Victory Day, which Russia marks annually on May 9.
Zelenskyy replied that Ukraine would observe a ceasefire beginning at the end of Tuesday and would respond in kind to Russia´s actions from that moment on. He didn’t put an end date on the move.
Zelenskyy was in Bahrain on Tuesday where he met with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, proposing a bilateral drone defense partnership amid the Iran war.
The Ukrainian leader said that he offered to share Ukraine´s air defense expertise with Bahrain, drawing a parallel between Iranian attacks on Gulf states and Russia´s daily aerial strikes on Ukrainian territory, which often use Shahed drones initially developed by Iran.
Zelenskyy said last month that Ukrainian officials are helping Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan with drone expertise and air defense.
Russian forces fired 11 Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 164 strike drones at Ukraine overnight from Monday to Tuesday, including a jet-powered Shahed drone variant, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
Air defense units stopped 149 drones and one missile, but others got through, it said. Two ballistic missiles failed to reach their targets, the air force said without elaborating.
Russia has repeatedly hammered Ukraine´s energy infrastructure during the war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. It hit natural gas production facilities in Ukraine´s central Poltava and northeastern Kharkiv regions, state energy company Naftogaz Group said.
Since the start of the year, Naftogaz facilities have come under attack 107 times, the company said.
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 that 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.
Russia´s ceasefire proposals “remain only statements,” Svyrydenko said.
Ukraine also kept up the pace of its long-range attacks on Russian rear areas, apparently aiming at more oil facilities in an effort to further disrupt Moscow’s war economy.
Russia´s Defense Ministry said that 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 Azov Sea, it said.
During the night, Ukraine launched its F-5 Flamingo cruise missiles at targets, including military-industrial complex facilities in Cheboksary, located more than 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) away, Zelenskyy said.
The plant supplied navigation components for the Russian navy, the missile industry, aviation and armored vehicles, he said.
The regional health ministry said that a Ukrainian drone attack wounded three people in the city of Cheboksary.
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 Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said.
Drozdenko said on social media that 29 Ukrainian drones had been shot down during the attack. No casualties were reported.
Ukraine doubled its midrange strikes on Russia in April compared with March and quadrupled them compared with February, according to a monthly battlefield report from Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov published Tuesday.
The midrange attacks were focused on enemy warehouses, command posts, air defense systems and supply lines up to about 100 miles (160 kilometers) behind the front line.
Also, Ukrainian ground robots completed 10,281 resupply and evacuation missions in April, an average of almost 343 per day, according to Fedorov.
It wasn’t possible to independently confirm the claims.