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EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT – In this photo provided by Ukraine’s 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, people cover bodies of civilians killed in Russia’s aerial guided bomb attack in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (Iryna Rybakova\/Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)<\/p>\n
Iryna Rybakova\/AP<\/p>\n
This photo provided by Ukraine’s 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, shows the site of an aerial guided bomb strike after Russia’s air attack in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (Iryna Rybakova\/Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)<\/p>\n
Iryna Rybakova\/AP<\/p>\n
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 Russia fired dozens of drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, disregarding a unilateral ceasefire announced by Kyiv that began at midnight.<\/p>\n
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The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine hadn\u2019t abided by its own ceasefire, saying that air defenses shot down 53 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea between Tuesday evening and dawn Wednesday.<\/p>\n
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Five people were killed by a Ukrainian drone strike on the city of Dzhankoi in Crimea, according to Russia-installed Gov. Sergei Aksyonov. He reported the casualties just after midnight, but posted about the attack itself more than 90 minutes earlier.<\/p>\n
There had been no official sign from Moscow that it would heed Kyiv\u2019s ceasefire, and there was little hope for a pause in hostilities as the war stretches into its fifth year following Russia\u2019s all-out invasion of its neighbor. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the war over the past year have come to nothing.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine killed 27 people and wounded 120 others, all of them civilians, according to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. The war has killed more than 15,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAfter yesterday\u2019s savage strikes against our cities and communities \u2026 the Russian army continued active hostilities and terrorist shelling throughout this day as well,\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday on X. \u201cRussia\u2019s choice is an obvious spurning of a ceasefire and of saving lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite Kyiv’s open-ended suspension of hostilities, Russia has continued shelling, with aerial strikes using drones and powerful glide bombs, and has attempted to break through Ukrainian defenses on the front line, Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussia must end the war it is currently waging,\u201d he said, urging Moscow to call off its invasion. \u201cThe Russian side has our diplomatic proposals, and the only thing needed is Russia\u2019s willingness to move toward real peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Both sides have kept up long-range strike campaigns. On the roughly 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line, meanwhile, Russia’s bigger army remains engaged in a slow-moving and costly slog against Ukraine’s drone-heavy defenses.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy had announced the unilateral ceasefire after Russia said it would hold its own pause of hostilities over two days later this week while it marks the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. The Ukrainian leader said any breach of the ceasefire would trigger a military response.<\/p>\n
European officials had welcomed Ukraine’s unilateral move as a goodwill gesture illustrating its readiness for a peace settlement.<\/p>\n
Russian forces launched 108 drones and three missiles overnight, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, with attacks continuing throughout the night and into Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMoscow once again ignored a realistic and fair call to end hostilities, supported by other states and international organizations,\u201d Sybiha said in a post on X.<\/p>\n
Moscow\u2019s proposal to stop fighting on Friday and Saturday follows a pattern of Russia declaring short unilateral ceasefires during the war timed to coincide with various holidays, most recently Orthodox Easter.<\/p>\n
Those suspensions of combat don\u2019t produce any tangible results amid deep mistrust between the warring sides.<\/p>\n
Sybiha said Russia\u2019s actions exposed its calls for a separate ceasefire around May 9 as insincere. \u201cPutin only cares about military parades, not human lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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The diplomat called for increased international pressure on Moscow, including new sanctions, diplomatic isolation, accountability measures for war crimes and expanded military and civilian support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n