At least five people were injured by Russian shelling in Kiev, local officials said this morning.

Three people were injured due to explosions in the Solomyanskyi district and two others were injured when UAV debris landed in the Syatosin district – both located west of the city center – the mayor of the Ukrainian capital Vitaly Klitschko said via Telegram.

He added that explosions continue in Kiev.

The city’s military administration spoke of devastation due to the new Russian incursion. He reported that a car caught fire “probably due to falling debris” and also spoke of falling “debris in an apartment building.”

Journalists from the Reuters news agency reported hearing several explosions in Kiev.

Officials assured that the air defense repels the new raid.

At least one explosion was also heard during a missile attack on Odessa, a Ukrainian port of strategic importance on the Black Sea, an official said, while Ukrainian media also reported explosions in Kherson (south) and Zaporizhia (southeast). Vladimir Rogov, an official stationed by Moscow in Zaporizhia, said that a warehouse and positions of the Ukrainian army in Ornihiv, a small town in the region, were bombed.

An “enemy missile attack” was carried out, Serhii Brachuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military command in Odesa, said via Telegram. He added that the target was a food warehouse, among others, and uploaded photos of a burning building.

At the same time, the regional military command of Sumi (north-east) spoke of shelling in eight locations by Russian artillery.

The new wave of strikes comes 24 hours before Victory Day in Russia, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

In the meantime, Oleksandr Shirsky, a top officer of the Ukrainian army, said that Russian forces are escalating their effort to take control of Bakhmut (east), where fighting has been raging since the summer of 2022, until tomorrow, Tuesday, May 9, stressing that Kiev will everything to prevent this development, which he described as “our duty”.

The head of the mercenary company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claims that 95% of Bakhmut is in the hands of Russian forces.

Mr Prigozhin yesterday walked back his threat to withdraw his “musicians” from the city, once home to 70,000 people but now in ruins.

On the other hand, Ukrainian attacks against fuel storage facilities, infrastructure and other targets on Russian territory or Ukrainian territories under Russian control, especially on the Crimean peninsula, have also increased in recent years. Kiev, without confirming or denying that it launched the attacks, says the destruction of infrastructure is a prelude to a long-awaited counteroffensive to recapture territory.