“Mere before Ukraine’s proposed ceasefire would take effect, Russia is showing no sign of preparing to end combat,” the minister said in a statement on Telegram.
“On the contrary, Moscow is intensifying terror. Instead of answering Ukraine’s proposal, Russia continues to kill, lie, and deny.”
Russian forces carried out heavy strikes across Ukraine during the day. Local officials said attackers dropped aerial bombs on downtown Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast, killing at least five people and wounding 12. Another strike on Zaporizhzhia killed at least 12 people and injured 37, officials said. In the evening, an attack on the city of Dnipro killed four people.
On May 4, Russia’s Defense Ministry said a ceasefire would be declared on May 8 and 9 and warned of heavy strikes on central Kyiv if Ukraine tried to “disrupt Victory Day celebrations.” The ministry also claimed it had previously refrained from striking central Kyiv “for humanitarian reasons.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had received no
official request for a ceasefire but announced a pause in fighting starting at
midnight on May 6.