Russia launched a sweeping overnight barrage across eight Ukrainian regions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, as local officials reported that more than two dozen civilians, including three children, were wounded in the attacks.
According to Zelenskyy, Russian forces unleashed 524 attack drones along with 22 ballistic and cruise missiles in one of the war’s latest large-scale aerial assaults. The central city of Dnipro and the surrounding region suffered the heaviest damage, authorities said.
The strikes marked another escalation in the intensifying cycle of long-range attacks that has continued despite a May 9-11 ceasefire proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and discussed with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The brief truce appeared to have little effect, with no clear progress toward a peace agreement despite ongoing U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s invasion.
Russia has stepped up its bombardment campaign in recent days. Last week, strikes flattened a residential apartment building in Kyiv, killing 24 people.
Meanwhile, one of Ukraine’s largest drone attacks on Russian territory killed at least four people, including three near Moscow, and injured a dozen others, Russian authorities said Sunday.
In more than four years of war, Ukraine has built up its own long-range strike capabilities. It has targeted oil facilities, a cornerstone of the Russian economy, as well as other sites deep inside Russia, bringing the war closer to the Russian public. The attacks have added pressure on Putin, whose forces have struggled to make major battlefield gains and who said earlier this month that the war was nearing its end.
On Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said more than 1,000 drones had been shot down or jammed in the previous 24 hours, including about 80 headed toward Moscow.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s growing strike capabilities were reshaping the battlefield.
“Our long-range capabilities are significantly changing the situation and, more broadly, the world’s perception of Russia’s war,” Zelenskyy wrote on X late Sunday. “Many partners are now signaling that they see what is happening and how everything has changed, both in attitudes toward this war and in the reachability of Russian targets on Russian territory.”
Putin is due to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing this week. Cooperation between the two countries has deepened in recent years as many Western nations have sought to isolate the Russian leader.
Zelenskyy said the bombardment of the Dnipropetrovsk region lasted six hours and struck energy facilities and residential buildings. At least 26 people, including two children, were wounded in the region, Ukraine’s emergency service said.
Damage was also reported in Ukraine’s Odesa, Chernihiv and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 50 Ukrainian drones from late Sunday into early Monday.
