Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of breaching a unilateral ceasefire announced by Ukraine by launching a wave of drone attacks on several cities.
The Ukrainian president said Russia had carried out “active hostilities and terrorist shelling”, targeting the front line as well as firing dozens of drones and missiles at civilian areas.
In the Sumy border region, one woman was killed when a kindergarten was hit on Wednesday morning, local authorities said. No children were present at the time.
Earlier this week the two warring sides had announced rival unilateral ceasefires – with no agreement on their terms, length or monitoring.
Moscow was the first to demand a truce on 8 and 9 May to mark Victory Day on Saturday, when commemorations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany are due to be held across the country.
Kyiv followed on by announcing its own open-ended ceasefire from midnight on Tuesday, and that Ukraine would act “symmetrically” from that point on.
On Wednesday morning Zelensky stated that Russia’s choice was “an obvious spurning of a ceasefire and of saving lives”.
Ukraine had “clearly stated that it would act in kind”, he added, and would “decide on our further actions” based on evening reports from its military and intelligence.
Credit: bbc.com
