Ukraine-Russia war latest: Fighting escalates as Putin’s troops attempt to invade new Ukrainian city
Russian troops are intensifying their attacks on the heavily fortified city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine’s top army official said.
Kostiantynivka is part of a so-called fortress belt in the country’s east, defended fiercely by the Ukrainian military.
“We are repelling the Russian occupiers’ persistent attempts to gain a foothold in the outskirts of Kostiantynivka using infiltration tactics,” Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s army chief, said on the Telegram app.
“Counter-sabotage measures are going on in the city.”
Meanwhile, Russian drones struck the Ukrainian port city of Odesa overnight, injuring at least 20 people and damaging residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten.
Russia said it would implement a temporary ceasefire around Victory Day on 9 May regardless of Ukraine’s response. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the truce “will be implemented” and that “a response is not, in fact, required”.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the proposal as insufficient, saying Ukraine supported a longer-term ceasefire rather than “a few hours of security for a parade in Moscow”.
