Russia and Ukraine have launched a wave of drone attacks against each other overnight, even as Moscow claimed it was finalising a peace proposal to end the war. Ukrainian air force officials said on Tuesday that Russia deployed 60 drones across multiple regions through the night, injuring 10 people. Kyiv's air defences intercepted 43 of them – 35 were shot down while eight were diverted using electronic warfare systems. In Dnipropetrovsk, central Ukraine, Governor Serhiy Lysak reported damage to residential properties and an agricultural site after Russian drones led to fires during the night. In Kherson, a southern city frequently hit by Russian strikes, a drone attack on Tuesday morning wounded a 59-year-old man and six municipal workers, officials said.

Ukrainian officials have renewed their calls for more sanctions on Russia after Russian forces launched dozens of attack drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv overnight ahead of a second exchange of soldiers and civilians. Ukraine's military on Saturday said overnight attacks launched from multiple Russian regions used 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles to hit Kyiv, damaging several apartment buildings and a shopping mall, and injuring at least 15 people. Sites in the Ukrainian regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Zaporizhia were also hit, with Ukrainian forces saying six of the ballistic missiles were shot down by its air defences, along with 245 drones, many of which were said to be Iranian-designed. Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv's regional state administration, said on Saturday morning that four Ukrainians were killed and several others injured over the past 24 hours in the region as a result of multiple Russian attacks. Meanwhile, Russia's Ministry of Defence on Saturday said at least 100 Ukrainian drones attempted to strike Russian targets overnight.

Russia's Defence Ministry said air defences shot down 105 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, including 35 over the Moscow region, after the ministry said a day earlier that it had downed more than 300 Ukrainian drones. Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said one person was killed in a Russian artillery attack on the region. H said over the past day, 35 areas in Kherson, including Kherson city, came under artillery shelling and air attacks, wounding 11 people. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said the "most intense situation" is in the Donetsk region, and the army is continuing "active operations in the Kursk and Belgorod regions". Russia's Defence Ministry said air defences shot down 105 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, including 35 over the Moscow region, after the ministry said a day earlier that it had downed more than 300 Ukrainian drones.

Russia and Ukraine accused one another of violating a May 8-10 ceasefire that had been unilaterally declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin to coincide with commemorative events marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. The Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday that Ukrainian troops had made four attempts to smash through the border into the Kursk and Belgorod regions in the past week. It claimed that Kyiv's troops attacked Russian forces 15 times during the ceasefire. In Belgorod, the local governor said a Ukrainian drone had attacked a government building on Friday. Pro-Russian war bloggers said Ukraine attacked multiple villages in the region, with further "high-intensity fighting" near Tetkino, a village in the Kursk region.

Russia and Ukraine have accused one another of violating a three-day ceasefire as Moscow marked Victory Day by welcoming allies to a grand military parade. Russia's President Vladimir Putin marked the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany on Friday alongside China's Xi Jinping, in an event clearly intended to bolster support for his three-year offensive against Ukraine, which he had unilaterally paused for 72 hours to mark the occasion. "Russia has been and will remain an indestructible barrier against Nazism, Russophobia and anti-Semitism," said Putin, seeking to draw parallels between World War II – or the Great Patriotic War as it is named in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union – and the Ukraine war. Russia maintains that its February 2022 invasion of its neighbour is a battle against a "Nazi" regime in Kyiv. Ukraine has dismissed that claim as "incomprehensible".

Chinese soldiers are seen marching in Moscow's Red Square on Friday, May 9. (Credit: CCTV) Chinese President Xi Jinping was photographed standing next to Vladimir Putin on Friday as thousands of Russian troops and military vehicles rumbled through Moscow's Red Square during the country's annual Victory Day parade. The event, marking Russia's 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, featured over 11,500 troops and more than 180 military vehicles, including tanks, armored infantry vehicles and artillery used on the battlefield in Ukraine. "We are proud of their courage and determination, their spiritual force that always has brought us victory," Putin said about the Russian troops fighting in the war. Russian flag carrier Aeroflot canceled more than 100 flights to and from Moscow and delayed over 140 others on Wednesday as the military were repelling repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on the capital. Russian President Vladimir Putin, center right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, watch the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, on Friday, May 9. (Mikhail Korytov/Photo host agency RIA Novosti via AP) Ukrainian authorities also reported scores of Russian strikes on Friday that killed at least two people in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and damaged buildings.

In the days ahead of the proposed truce, Moscow and Kyiv exchanged a barrage of strikes. Flights at airports across Russia were cancelled and some 60,000 passengers left stranded in the wake of Ukrainian drone attacks. Heavy restrictions are in place in the centre of Moscow as Russia prepares to mark the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. Russia says 27 world leaders are attending the event, with thousands of troops marching on Red Square ahead of a parade of some of Russia's latest weaponry. Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro are among the assembled guests, along with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Robert Fico, Slovakia's prime minister who is the only European Union leader to travel to Moscow. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier warned that he could not guarantee the safety of anyone attending the event and has urged heads of state not to travel to Moscow.

On May 9th, Vladimir Putin will oversee a parade in Moscow's Red Square, commemorating the Soviet Union's victory in the Second World War, an annual display of military bravado that, since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in 2022, has taken on more explicit political undertones. The country's triumph over Nazism is presented as proof of its righteousness in the current war--and of it's role as a global power. Last year, as intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads rolled across the square, Putin linked the "radiant memory" of those who gave up their lives in the Second World War with "our brothers-in-arms who have fallen in the struggle against neo-Nazism and in the righteous fight for Russia"--that is, Russian soldiers killed in the current war in Ukraine. The Lede Reporting and commentary on what you need to know today. This year, the celebrations in Moscow serve another purpose: a way for Putin to show that he is not geopolitically isolated--China's Xi Jinping and Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are expected to attend.

Waves of Ukrainian drones have hit Moscow in recent days as the Russian capital prepares for the country's most important national holiday, Victory Day, this week. Russia celebrates May 9 as Victory Day to mark the defeat of Nazi forces in World War II. The day involves a major military parade, with leaders of Russia's allies often in attendance. But this year, the run-up to the day has been clouded by a warning from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has said Kyiv cannot guarantee the safety of the foreign leaders attending the parade in Moscow. Here is more about Ukraine's attacks, Victory Day and why it is significant. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Tuesday that Russia's air defence systems shot down 19 drones flying towards Moscow from different directions.

Russian attacks on the Donetsk and Sumy regions of eastern Ukraine killed at least three people on Monday, Ukrainian authorities said. A Ukrainian drone attack on a car in Russia's Kursk region killed two women, Governor Alexander Khinstein said in a post on Telegram. He said a 53-year-old man was also killed when an explosive device was dropped onto his car. Russian forces destroyed 105 Ukrainian drones overnight, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Defence. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said at least 19 Ukrainian drones were destroyed as the capital was targeted for a second night in a row, prompting the closure of all airports for several hours.