CNN
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Kyiv accused Moscow of breaching its own ceasefire on Thursday, saying Russian forces struck hundreds of times along the front lines and launched guided bombs that killed and wounded civilians in several Ukrainian cities.
The three-day ceasefire scheduled around the anniversary of Russia’s World War II Victory Day on Friday was unilaterally declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. It was meant to come into effect at midnight local time (5 p.m. ET) on Wednesday.
A statement from the Kremlin last month said Putin ordered “all military actions” in Ukraine to be suspended from midnight May 8 to midnight May 11 based on “humanitarian considerations.”
Russian state news agency Tass reported the ceasefire started as scheduled – yet the fighting appeared to have continued, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.
Russia launched guided bombs over Sumy in northeastern Ukraine and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, the military and local authorities said in a post on Telegram.
A 55-year-old woman was killed and her son was wounded in the Sumy region early Thursday morning, according to the Prosecutor’s Office in the Sumy region. About half an hour later, a 70-year-old woman was wounded when another bomb landed in the Vorozhba area, the local prosecutor said.
The head of the Kherson regional military administration said a 35-year-old woman was killed Thursday as a result of a Russian drone strike on one of the villages on the region. He also reported several drones in the area.
CNN has not independently verified these claims.
Ukraine’s Air Force said there had been no Russian missile or drone attacks in its airspace on Thursday morning.
Viktor Tregubov, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian military’s Khortytsia operational and strategic grouping, said Russian troops were “less active” Thursday morning.
“In some areas, there were no clashes in the morning, but there were active hostilities in a number of other (areas), so we cannot talk about a ceasefire,” he said, adding Russian troops had launched assault operations near Lyman, Vovchansk, Kramatorsk, Chasiv Yar, Toretks and Pokrovsk since it was supposed to begin at midnight.
Russia also accused Ukraine of violating the ceasefire, even though Kyiv rejected the short-term truce when it was first announced.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed in a statement its troops “ceased all hostilities” and accused Ukraine of continuing to strike. It said Russia would “mirror” Ukraine’s actions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Putin’s announcement a “theatrical performance” and reiterated his country’s support for an earlier US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, which Russia has rejected.
The three-day period Putin picked for the ceasefire coincides with Russia’s World War II Victory Day commemorations, including a traditional military parade, set for Friday, May 9.
The high-profile event is expected to be attended by the leaders of several countries that are friendly with Russia, including China’s Xi Jinping.
As in previous years, it is expected to be used by Putin and his government to peddle propaganda, which falsely frames Moscow’s current aggression against Ukraine as a fight against a “Nazi” regime in Kyiv.
Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union during WWII, but it celebrates its Victory Day on May 8, having moved the holiday from May 9 after the Russian invasion to align itself with Europe.
In a speech commemorating the anniversary Thursday, Zelensky said Russia’s celebrations on Friday would be “a parade of cynicism.”
“The atrocities of the Nazis will be brought up by the organizer of mass (killings) in Bucha. And those who orchestrated the blockade of Mariupol will be the ones talking about the siege of Leningrad,” he said.
“Thank God Ukraine has broken free from all of this. Thank God Ukraine has not forgotten that 80 years ago, dozens of peoples fought against Nazism. And more than 8 million Ukrainians, sadly, died in that struggle,” he added.
As Russia prepared to mark the anniversary of the end of WWII, Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow for the second consecutive night overnight into Wednesday.
The attacks forced Russian authorities to temporarily halt air traffic at 13 airports Wednesday – four in Moscow and nine further afield.
More drones were flying Wednesday, with Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin saying one drone that was heading to Moscow was shot down Wednesday afternoon.
The shutting down of airports was potentially embarrassing for Moscow, as delegations from countries that have remained friendly to Russia were flying in to attend the parade Friday.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vietnamese President To Lam and Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko are among the 29 leaders on the guest list, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.
Ukraine has previously said it “cannot be responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation” because of the war.
Zelensky said his country would not be “playing games to create a pleasant atmosphere to allow for Putin’s exit from isolation on May 9.”
While Russia has rejected the US ceasefire proposal, the unilateral ceasefire around the Victory Day celebration was the second short-term truce Putin announced in less than a month.
In a surprise move over Easter, the Russian leader announced he instructed his troops to stop all military activity for some 30 hours. Ukraine accused Russia of breaching the truce, although it did say fighting had slowed along some parts of the front lines.
