RUSSIA launched a barrage of drone, missile and air strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight as Moscow steps up attacks ahead of Russia's precious Victory Day parades.
Ukraine reported 149 deadly strikes targeted the capital, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions killing at least one, wounding five and crumpling infrastructure.
Kyiv's mayor said at least five people were wounded in the capital amid damage to a fuel depot, cars, buildings and infrastructure – the fourth attack on the capital in the first eight days of May.
And yet, Ukraine's Air Force claims to have shot down all 35 Iranian-made drones in a blow to Putin.
"Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded civilians, high-rise buildings, private homes and other civilian infrastructure were damaged," the military said.
The fresh attacks come as Putin gears up for Tuesday's annual Victory Parade that has long celebrated the Russia's triumph over Nazi Germany in 1945.
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The suffering and valour of the World War II battles, that saw 20million Russians dead, have been touchstones for Russian national pride ever since.
Moscow's Red Square parade is the jewel of the day and a key event for Putin who will likely try to evoke the spirit Soviet triumph over Nazism in his speech having accused Ukraine of being in the grip of a new kind of fascism.
However in its 78th year as Putin's forces flounder in Ukraine after 14 months of unsuccessful fighting, several regions have scrapped the parades all together over "security reasons", while others are being scaled-back.
Yet, rumours have long been swirling that they are being called off due to a lack of tanks to put on show as the war batters Russia's military arsenal.
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In besieged Bakhmut, Russia stepped up shelling, hoping to take it by Tuesday after nine months of grinding, trench-style warfare.
Ukraine's top general leading the battered city's defence said, after Russia's Wagner mercenary group appeared to ditch plans to withdraw from it.
Overnight, witnesses said they heard numerous explosions in Kyiv, with local officials saying air defence systems were repelling the attack, as drone wreckage was found on an airport runway in the capital.
After air raid alerts blared for hours over roughly two-thirds of Ukraine as explosions sounded across Odesa, Kherson and southeastern Zaporizhzhia – which is currently undergoing a mass evacuation led by Russian troops.
The emptying of nearby towns and villages to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant sparked a "mad panic" yesterday that a nuclear disaster was impending.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in Zaporizhzhia, said their forces hit a warehouse and Ukrainian troops' position in the small city of Orikhiv.
Strikes have also intensified in the past two weeks on Russian-held targets, especially in Crimea.
Ukraine has not confirmed any role in those attacks but it says destroying enemy infrastructure is preparation for its long-awaited counteroffensive.
On Wednesday, an explosion caused by a drone strike lit up the heavily-protected Kremlin compound.
Footage showed a flying object exploding in flames overnight above the fortress in central Moscow – where the president has his office and an apartment.
The tyrant accused Zelensky of an "assasination attempt" right before trying to implicate the US in the "terrorist attacks".
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Both Kyiv and the Washington has strongly denied any involvement.
"We don't attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We are defending our villages and cities," Zelensky responded to the provocative accusations.
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