25 missiles launched across Ukraine overnight
Ukraine’s armed forces have just said in their update that 25 missiles were launched by Russia across Ukraine overnight, with 23 of those shot down.
23 out of 25 cruise missiles launched by the enemy last night were shot down including about a dozen in the Kyiv region. No damage reported yet in Kyiv except for a fire caused by falling debris. Not many citizens in the capital got much sleep.
— Ukraine Front Lines (@EuromaidanPR) May 9, 2023
Key events
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, said Russia “will prevail” in its fight against what he described as “imperialists”, the state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday, in remarks seen to be aimed at Ukraine and its western supporters such as the US.
North Korea has forged closer ties with the Kremlin and backed Moscow after it invaded Ukraine last year, including its proclamation later of having annexed parts of Ukraine, which most UN members condemned as illegal.
“We send warm wishes to you, the Russian army and the people of Russia for their holy fight to preserve world peace,” the agency quoted Kim as telling Vladimir Putin in a letter.
Kim also congratulated Putin on Tuesday’s Victory Day anniversary that celebrates the 1945 defeat of Nazi Germany, saying Russia would continue to protect its “autonomy” and the “stability of the region”.
The leaders of the G7 nations must condemn any threat to use nuclear weapons and vow “decisive action” against such a move when they hold a summit next week in the city of Hiroshima, Ukraine’s envoy to Japan said.
Nuclear tension has surged since the start of the conflict with Ukraine as Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned that Russia is ready to use its nuclear arsenal if necessary to defend its “territorial integrity”.
Sergiy Korsunsky also told Reuters that conditions around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had deteriorated rapidly, a situation the head of the UN’s nuclear power watchdog warned at the weekend had become “potentially dangerous”.
“It should be a very clear statement from specifically those nuclear powers among the G7 that the use of nuclear weapons or nuclear terrorism will not be tolerated and will be met with almost decisive actions from major powers,” he said.
The envoy’s comments came as Russia launched drone, missile and airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other cities in the run-up to its cherished Victory Day holiday today that celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will attend by video link the G7 gathering from 19-21 May in Hiroshima, which in 1945 became the first city to be hit by an atomic bomb, adding significance to his country’s message.
“It’s most important that the summit, when we have a real threat of nuclear terrorism, that summit will be in Hiroshima,” Korsunsky added.
Von der Leyen arrives in Kyiv
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has arrived in Kyiv, where she will meet Zelenskiy.
Ukraine will be celebrating “Europe Day” along with the countries of the European Union it hopes to join.
Good to be back in Kyiv.
Where the values we hold dear are defended everyday.
So it is such a fitting place to celebrate the day of Europe.
I welcome President @ZelenskyyUa‘s decision to make 9 May Europe Day also here in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/MEGOEfgyIq
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 9, 2023
This year’s Victory Day in Russia is emotionally charged, Reuters reports, as the country mourns thousands of soldiers killed in the nearly 15-month war in Ukraine that shows no sign of ending.
Russia is also reeling from drone attacks, including one on the Kremlin on 3 May that it said was an attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin. Ukraine denies involvement.
Putin has repeatedly likened the Ukraine war – which he casts as a battle against Nazi-inspired nationalists – to the challenge the Soviet Union faced when Hitler invaded in 1941.
Ukraine says this is absurd and accuses Russia of behaving like Nazi Germany by waging an unprovoked war of aggression and seizing Ukrainian territory.
There have been reports of fewer soldiers and less military hardware joining this year’s parade as the Ukraine conflict takes a heavy toll on men and equipment.
Authorities nationwide have cancelled the “Immortal Regiment” processions, where people carry portraits of relatives who fought against the Nazis.
Dame Melinda Simmons has posted a photograph of dawn in Kyiv this morning, after another night of air raid sirens and sheltering.
“I guess one advantage of an early morning air raid is the chance to see this,” she wrote.
Popped out after the all clear to get a look at the sky. I guess one advantage of an early morning air raid is the chance to see this. Clouds parting. New day. We are still here. pic.twitter.com/afF7DSTE0T
— Dame Melinda Simmons (@MelSimmonsFCDO) May 9, 2023
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, has condemned this morning’s attack, saying in a tweet: “Ukraine, Europe, and the United States commemorated victory over tyranny yesterday. Russia marks May 9 with more missiles and drones launched toward Ukrainian cities and sleeping civilians.”
Ukraine, Europe, and the United States commemorated victory over tyranny yesterday. Russia marks May 9 with more missiles and drones launched toward Ukrainian cities and sleeping civilians.
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) May 9, 2023
25 missiles launched across Ukraine overnight
Ukraine’s armed forces have just said in their update that 25 missiles were launched by Russia across Ukraine overnight, with 23 of those shot down.
23 out of 25 cruise missiles launched by the enemy last night were shot down including about a dozen in the Kyiv region. No damage reported yet in Kyiv except for a fire caused by falling debris. Not many citizens in the capital got much sleep.
— Ukraine Front Lines (@EuromaidanPR) May 9, 2023
Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv’s city military administration, said that according to preliminary information there were no casualties in the attack that was carried out with cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea region.
The Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said debris fell on a house in the Holosiivskyi district in the south-west of Kyiv, but there were no casualties and not much damage.
In the often-targeted Shevchenkivskyi district of central Kyiv, debris was found on a road, Reuters reports.
“Kyiv stood up again and will stand up in the future!” Popko said.
Victory Day begins in Russia as Moscow launches 15 missiles on Kyiv
Russia launched about 15 cruise missiles at Ukraine’s capital on Tuesday, the second attack in as many days, with air defence systems shooting all of them down, officials said, after air raid alerts blared over most of the country.
“As at the front, the plans of the aggressor failed,” Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv’s city military administration, said in comments posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Tuesday’s attacks came a day after Russia launched its biggest drone swarm yet in a renewed air campaign unleashed 10 days ago after a lull since early March, Reuters reports.
It also came on Russia’s Victory Day, one its most commemorated public holidays, marking the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
“[They] try to kill as many civilians as possible – on this day,” Popko said.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Russia launched 15 cruise missiles at Ukraine’s capital on Tuesday, the second attack in as many days, with air defence systems shooting all of them down, officials said, after air raid alerts blared over most of the country.
“As at the front, the plans of the aggressor failed,” Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv’s city military administration, said in comments posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Tuesday’s attacks came on Russia’s Victory Day, one its most commemorated public holidays, marking the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
“[They] try to kill as many civilians as possible – on this day,” Popko said.
Here are the other key recent developments in the war:
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A Russian missile strike overnight on Monday destroyed a Red Cross warehouse containing aid in Odesa. The Odesa regional organisation of the Red Cross society said workers and volunteers were not in the 1,000 sq metre unit at the time. “The provision of humanitarian aid and the activities of some projects of the Odesa Regional Organisation of the Red Cross of Ukraine have been suspended,” the statement added.
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On Monday at least five people were wounded by Russian strikes on Kyiv, city officials said, as Moscow launched another large-scale attack on Ukraine. Kyiv’s mayor said Russia fired 60 Iranian-made kamikaze drones early on Monday, including 36 at Kyiv, all of which had been shot down. However, debris hit apartments and other buildings, injuring at least five people.
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Russia has in effect stopped the Black Sea grain deal, which expires on 18 May, by refusing to register incoming vessels, Ukraine’s reconstruction ministry said. Moscow has threatened to quit the agreement, which is meant to help ease a global food crisis.
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About 100,000 Russian soldiers have died in the battle to capture Bakhmut, a Ukrainian general has claimed. Col Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesperson for the eastern group of the armed forces of Ukraine, told Ukrainian TV they were “rough calculations”. He said: “I am sure that further verification will only show an increase in this number. This is natural as the enemy uses the so-called meat assaults as the main method of waging war.”
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Russia’s Wagner mercenary group appears to have ditched plans to withdraw from Bakhmut, saying they had been promised more arms by Moscow. Ukraine’s general in charge of the defence of the besieged eastern Ukrainian city said late on Sunday that Russia had intensified shelling and hoped to take Bakhmut by Russia’s Victory Day on Tuesday.
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Russian investigators have charged a man with terrorism offences after a car bombing wounded a prominent Russian nationalist writer. The explosion in Nizhny Novgorod, western Russia, on Saturday, broke both legs of Zakhar Prilepin, an ardent supporter of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine. A close associate who was in the car with him was killed.
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The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will meet the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv on Tuesday, the European Commission announced.
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The EU could impose penalties on countries helping Moscow dodge western sanctions as part of a drive to close loopholes in the regime of restrictions on the Russian economy. A draft EU regulation seen by the Guardian proposes that non-EU countries could be included in future sanctions if shown to be at “particularly high risk of being used for circumvention against Russia”.
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A total of 1,679 people, including 660 children, have been evacuated from areas near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, a Moscow-installed official in the Russia-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region has said.
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Russia’s population has declined by 2 million more than expected over the past three years, according to UK intelligence.
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The EU’s executive has proposed blacklisting several Chinese companies and curbing exports to nations seen as involved in bypassing Russia trade restrictions under new sanctions.
