KYIV (Reuters) -- Russia carried out drone, missile and air strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities through the night, escalating attacks in the run-up to its cherished Victory Day holiday that celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Ukraine said its air defenses destroyed all 35 drones Russia had launched. Kyiv’s mayor said at least five people were wounded in the capital amid damage to a fuel depot, cars, buildings and infrastructure. A food warehouse was set ablaze by a missile in the Black Sea city of Odesa, where officials reported three people wounded.
It was one of the biggest volleys of missiles and drones yet in a renewed Russian air campaign unleashed 10 days ago after a lull since early March.
Kyiv said Moscow was also making a final push to try to capture the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut, to deliver President Vladimir Putin what would be his only prize for a costly Russian winter offensive, in time for the holiday.
The military said 16 rockets had hit the Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in the last 24 hours, in addition to 61 strikes and 52 rocket salvos on Ukrainian positions and populated areas.
Moscow is preparing for Tuesday’s Victory Day parade, the most important day in the calendar for Russia under Putin, who uses the 1945 Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany to justify his “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Ukraine, which as part of the then-Soviet Union endured higher per capita casualties than Russia in battling the Nazis, and as ground zero of the Holocaust, proclaimed May 8 to be Victory Day, rather than May 9 - a clear bid to separate its observance of the day from that of Russia.
Russia has cancelled or curtailed some of the huge military parades that normally accompany Victory Day.
“The Russians still hope to capture the city by May 9. Our task is to prevent this,” Ukrainian ground forces commander Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said after visiting the front line near Bakhmut, Russia’s main target.
Ukraine, which drove Russian forces back from the ramparts of the capital and recovered substantial territory last year, has kept its troops on the defensive for the past six months, but is preparing a massive counteroffensive in coming weeks.
In Kyiv, three people were injured in blasts in the Solomyanskyi district and two when drone wreckage fell in the Sviatoshyn district, both west of the capital’s center, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.