Three-Day Ceasefire Expires, Russia Launches Over 200 Drones at Ukraine
Al Jazeera Staff
A U.S.-brokered three-day ceasefire has expired, and Russia immediately launched more than 200 drones at Ukraine, killing at least one person. President Zelenskyy confirmed the attacks, which hit energy infrastructure and residential areas across multiple regions.
Russia's overnight air strikes on Ukraine reignited hostilities after a U.S.-brokered three-day ceasefire ended. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that more than 200 long-range drones were used by Russia in this attack.
Ukrainian officials said the drone strikes on the Dnipropetrovsk region on Tuesday (May 12) killed at least one person and wounded four others, according to regional head Oleksandr Ganzha.
Russian drones also hit energy infrastructure in the Mykolaiv region, causing blackouts, and struck residential buildings and a kindergarten in the Kyiv region. Attacks also occurred in the Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
"Russia itself chose to end the several-day partial lull," Zelenskyy wrote on social media platform X. Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 27 Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov regions.
The attacks came after the 72-hour ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (May 8) expired. Trump had hoped the deal would mark "the beginning of the end" of the four-year war. The ceasefire, from May 9 to 11, coincided with Russia's Victory Day, but both sides accused each other of violating the deal even before it expired.
Zelenskyy said Russia "did not comply with the ceasefire, and didn't even try to," and claimed there was no peace in frontline areas despite the absence of large-scale attacks. In turn, Russia's Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of violating the ceasefire more than 1,000 times, striking civilian targets in several Russian regions and launching raids on Russian military positions at the front line.
U.S.-backed negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict have made little progress and have largely been sidelined by the crisis in the Middle East. Over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time suggested the war in Ukraine could be "reaching its end" and expressed willingness to meet Zelenskyy in Moscow or a neutral country once a deal to end the war is completed. However, he also accused the "arrogant West" of recklessly inciting a global conflict and warned that Russia's "strategic forces" are ready to fight.
