This week, battles continued to rage along the front lines. Russia continued to pummel Ukrainian cities and towns deep in the rear with missiles and drones. The attacks claimed the lives of dozens of civilians. A Russian double-tap drone and missile strike on a gas production facility in Poltava region overnight on Tuesday killed two employees and two rescue workers. More than 30 others were injured. Railway infrastructure also sustained damage. Cities across Ukraine, including Zaporizhzhia, Merefa, Dnipro and Kramatorsk came under attack throughout the week. Russia has returned 375 bodies of Ukrainian military and civilians earlier confirmed as war prisoners, the Ukrainian authorities said. They died while imprisoned as a result “of torture, exhaustion and lack of medical treatment,” head of the Secretariat of Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Bohdan Okhrimenko.
Ukraine continues to strike targets deep inside Russia. A drone hit a residential tower in central Moscow overnight on Monday. The building stands just six kilometers away from the Kremlin. Ukraine launched F-5 Flamingo cruise missiles at a number of targets in Russia, including military-industrial facilities in Cheboksary overnight on Tuesday. Ukraine struck the Nara military supply center in the city of Naro-Fominsk in the Moscow region overnight on Thursday. Drones also attacked the city of Rzhev in Russia’s Tver region on Thursday morning. The likely targets were the Elektromekhanika military plant and the 55th arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (GRAU) of the Russian defense ministry.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin is wary of a plot or coup attempt while tensions flare among the members of Russia’s security services, according to a report from a European intelligence agency obtained by a number of media outlets. Russia declared a unilateral ceasefire between May 8 and May 10, fearing Ukrainian attacks around the May 9 parade. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi declared on May 4 a unilateral ceasefire effective at midnight on Wednesday. Russia broke it moments after it started. On Wednesday, Russia threatened to strike “decision-making centers” in Kyiv in response to any attempt by Ukraine to disrupt Russia’s May 9 commemorations.
Zelenskyi advises foreign leaders against visiting Moscow on May 9.
In his nightly video address on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelelnskyi has advised foreign representatives against attending Victory Day festivities in Moscow on May 9.
“They want Ukraine’s permission to hold their parade — so they can safely take to the square for an hour once a year, and then go back to killing our people and waging war,” he said.
He added that Russia is already issuing statements on possible strikes on Ukraine after May 9. “A strange and certainly twisted logic from the Russian leadership,” he said.
Commenting on foreign delegations’ plans to attend the May 9 parade in Moscow, Zelenskyi said: “There are also messages from some states close to Russia that their representatives intend to be in Moscow. An odd desire at a time like this. We do not recommend it.”