Russian attacks kill 25 in Ukraine hours before deadline for ceasefire proposed by Kyiv
by Sergiy Chalyi · Japan TodayKYIV/ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — Russian attacks on cities in eastern Ukraine killed at least 25 people on Tuesday, including 12 in one of the worst strikes so far this year, hours before the deadline for a proposal from Kyiv for an open-ended ceasefire to begin at midnight.
Russia announced a ceasefire for May 8 to 9 to coincide with commemorations of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two and a military parade in Moscow's Red Square.
Ukraine, in response, announced a proposal for an open-ended ceasefire starting at midnight on Wednesday, urging Russia to reciprocate. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was not an option for Russia to halt strikes for one day for its military parade while having heavily pounded Ukraine.
In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, an attack by aerial bombs and drones killed at least 12 people, Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram. He said 20 were injured.
Fedorov said residential buildings, a car repair service and a car wash were damaged. The attack also sparked fires at a shop and an unidentified enterprise, he added.
Reuters Television footage showed flames engulfing cars and a garage and huge clouds of black smoke billowing skyward. Medics attended to the injured, many of them covered in blood, on an adjacent street.
"A cynical strike on facilities in the city of Zaporizhzhia: four guided aerial bombs. After the hit, the enemy intentionally began attacking those locations with (Iranian-designed) Shahed drones," Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Rehina Kharchenko told Reuters.
"For a very long time, State Emergency Service workers and municipal services were unable to approach the location."
Further northeast, three aerial bombs dropped on the frontline city of Kramatorsk killed five people, Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram. Twelve people were injured.
In Dnipro, also in southeastern Ukraine, a Russian attack killed four, Zelenskyy said.
"These are absolutely cynical, senseless terrorist strikes void of any military sense," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. "Such Russian strikes on our cities and villages do not cease for a single day."
Regional Governor Oleksandr Hanzha put the death toll at three, with 16 injured, four in a serious condition. Hanzha said a business in the city had been set ablaze.
A Russian overnight strike on the gas production facilities in the Poltava region killed four, Ukrainian officials said. Earlier announcements said five people had died.
In Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack on the central Chuvashia region killed two on Tuesday, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.
© Thomson Reuters 2026.