Russian forces resumed large-scale strikes on Ukraine on Tuesday after a brief three-day truce expired, targeting the capital with drone attacks and leaving one person dead in the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian officials said.
In response, Russia’s defence ministry claimed its air defences intercepted 27 Ukrainian drones after the ceasefire lapsed, saying the UAVs were destroyed over the Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov regions between midnight and 7:00 a.m. Moscow time (2100–0400 GMT).
The fragile pause in hostilities had been announced on Friday by US President Donald Trump, just hours before Russia’s World War II Victory Day commemorations.
He said he hoped it would signal “the beginning of the end” of the war, now in its fourth year.
However, both sides accused each other of violating the truce even before it officially ended.
As the ceasefire expired, Kyiv came under renewed drone fire, Ukrainian authorities reported, with air raid alerts sounding across the capital for the first time since Friday.
“Enemy UAVs are currently over Kyiv. Please stay safe until the alert is cleared,” the head of the capital’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, posted on Telegram.
The warning followed confirmation that Russian drones were active over the city, prompting residents to take shelter as air defence systems engaged incoming targets.
In the eastern part of the country, officials in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine reported further casualties.
Regional military head Oleksandr Ganzha said a man was killed and a woman injured in Synelnykove, while three others were wounded in separate strikes across the region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said fighting had continued throughout the supposed ceasefire, accusing Moscow of undermining any real chance of de-escalation.
“Today there was no silence at the front, there was fighting. We have recorded all of this,” Zelensky said in his daily address.
He also suggested shifting international attention was affecting diplomacy efforts, adding that it was “clear that the war in Iran is now drawing the most attention from America”.
The war, which began with Russia’s 2022 invasion ordered by President Vladimir Putin, has seen repeated but short-lived attempts at pauses in fighting, most of which have collapsed amid mutual accusations of violations and continued attacks on both military and civilian targets.
