While Moscow is preparing to celebrate the 9th of May, which is celebrated in Russia as the day of victory over Nazism, it also continues to sow destruction and death in Ukraine, once again shelling cities and killing civilians, writes Reuters.
On the morning of Monday, the 8th of May, Ukrainian officials reported that at least five people were injured in the attacks in Kyiv, while a food warehouse caught fire in Odesa, and explosions also occurred in other Ukrainian cities. The new attacks come as Russia prepares to celebrate the so-called Victory Day. This is one of the most important days of the year for Russian President Vladimir Putin – it was he who revived the idea of the heroic Soviet army that defeated Germany and Nazism, and Putin justifies the invasion of Ukraine with the fight against resurgent Nazism.
Russia has launched attacks on Bakhmut with new vigor, hoping to capture it by the 9th of May.
At the beginning of May, the owner of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, reported that the mercenaries planned to leave the city, but this did not happen, and the Russian forces shelled the almost-destroyed city with phosphorus bombs.
Witnesses told Reuters that numerous explosions were heard in Kyiv, and local officials said that air defense systems actively repelled the attacks. It is not known how many drones were directed to Kyiv.
Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa military administration, posted a video on the Telegram messaging app showing a large building engulfed in flames and said the Russian strike had set a food warehouse on fire.
The air alert sounded for about two hours in two-thirds of Ukraine, and strikes were also reported in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Vladimir Rogov, the Russian insert in Zaporizhzhia, has informed that Russian forces have hit a warehouse and positions of the Ukrainian army in Orikhiv. Reuters has not been able to confirm this.
In the second half of April, the attacks on objects under Russian control, especially on the Crimean peninsula, have also intensified. Ukraine has not confirmed the attacks but says destroying enemy infrastructure is important to prepare for a counterattack.
Read also: Fuel depot caught fire near the bridge to Crimea