2 killed, 33 injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine over past day

At least two people were killed and 33 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day, regional authorities reported on May 1.

Russia launched 170 drones, including Iranian-designed Shahed-type drones, and 5 Iskander-M ballistic missiles overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

Air defenses intercepted 74 drones, while 68 vanished from radars — likely used as decoys to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. The assault was countered using a combination of electronic warfare units, aviation, anti-aircraft missile systems, and mobile fire groups.

Russian drone strikes in Odesa killed two people and injured 15 others. The attack damaged residential apartment buildings, houses, a supermarket, a school, and vehicles, with fires breaking out in several locations, Governor Oleh Kiper said.

Further north, 13 people, including eight children, were wounded in Kharkiv Oblast, where Russian forces launched 28 attack drones and 20 precision-guided aerial bombs, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.

In Kherson Oblast, two people were injured as Russian forces shelled social infrastructure and residential areas, damaging five apartment buildings and 12 houses, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

A 35-year-old woman was injured in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, where a private enterprise, two houses, an outbuilding, and a car were damaged, according to Governor Serhii Lysak.

Donetsk Oblast reported one injury in Dobropillia, and Zaporizhzhia Oblast also recorded one injury after Russian forces launched 458 strikes on 12 settlements, Governor Ivan Fedorov said.

"For over 50 days now, Russia has been ignoring the American proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire," President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X.

He added that Ukraine had also proposed halting strikes on civilian infrastructure and establishing "lasting silence" across land, sea, and air.

"Russia has responded to all this with new shelling and new assaults," he said.

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More than three years since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s defense industry has adapted to a new normal. Despite a web of international sanctions designed to cripple military production, factories across the country have been able to keep building bullets and shells, drones and military vehicles.

The Kyiv IndependentKatie Marie Davies