On Sunday, Russia accused Ukraine of violating a ceasefire arranged by the U.S., while Ukrainian officials reported one casualty and another injury due to Russian drone and artillery strikes within the last 24 hours.
In the Kherson region, which is currently under Russian control, Vladimir Sardo, the leader appointed by Moscow, indicated that two individuals were injured as a result of Ukrainian military shelling.
In a separate statement, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine committed over 1,000 ceasefire violations, as detailed in a report by state media. They alleged that Ukrainian forces targeted civilian areas in multiple regions of Russia as well as Russian military positions at the front lines.
The Russian military stated they “responded in the same manner” to these ceasefire violations, the ministry added.
Ukrainian officials acknowledged the attacks but refrained from officially accusing Russia of breaching the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that started on Saturday.
Ivan Fedorov, who oversees Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhya region, reported that one person was killed and three others wounded from shelling and drone assaults in the last day.
In a similar update, Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson region, noted that seven individuals sustained injuries during that timeframe.
Late Saturday, Oleh Sinievov, the Kharkov Regional Administrator, indicated that a Russian drone strike caused damage to a nine-story apartment structure in an industrial sector of Ukraine’s second-largest city, leading to five injuries.
On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a ceasefire from Saturday to Monday in line with Victory Day, a celebration in Russia commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany.
He mentioned there would be a prisoner exchange and suggested that a halt in fighting might signal the “beginning of the end” for the conflict.
Following Trump’s comments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy remarked that Russian leaders were “worried about drones flying over Red Square” during Moscow’s May 9 parade and humorously suggested that Red Square be declared temporarily off-limits for the parade, considering the attacks on Ukraine. The Kremlin dismissed his remarks as a “silly joke.”
Yuri Ushakov, a presidential aide, anticipated that U.S. envoy Steve Witkov, a key player in the negotiations to resolve the war, along with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, would visit Moscow “very soon.”
However, Ushakov reiterated that Russia would not budge from its requirement that Ukrainian forces withdraw from the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. “As long as (Ukraine) does not act on that, we could have multiple rounds of talks, but we will find ourselves back where we started,” he was quoted as stating by TASS, the state news agency.
