May 7 (UPI) -- At least two people were killed and eight injured after Russia targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, with drones and missiles overnight, hours before a three-day cease-fire announced by Moscow was due to come into effect midnight Wednesday.
The two fatalities were in the central Shevchenkivskyi district, where a five-story apartment building was struck by a drone, with the State Emergency Service also reporting an adult and four children injured in the neighboring Sviatoshynskyi area of the city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X that those who lost their lives were a woman and her son, adding that the Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Kherson and Dnipro regions had also sustained numerous strikes from missiles and more than 140 drones.
Zelensky, who has dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin's cease-fire "as theatrical play," said Russia must be held to account and used the attacks to call for more international action targeting Russia's economy, saying it was the surest route to a durable peace.
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"Only significantly intensified pressure on Russia and stronger sanctions can pave the way to diplomacy. Any measures depriving the aggressor of resources to wage war must be implemented to bring lasting peace. I thank our partners who share this view and help us," he said.
Three of the children hurt in Kyiv were being treated in the hospital for burn injuries. One adult was also hospitalized.
Explosions were heard from two waves of attacks, three-and-half hours apart, starting at around 1 a.m. when the Ukraine Air Force issued a missile strike warning for the city.
The cease-fire was called to enable Russia to hold celebrations marking the 80th anniversary Friday of its victory over Nazi Germany in May 1945.
But Ukraine showed no sign of honoring it, with the state-run TASS news agency reporting a large-scale UAV attack on eight Russian regions in the early hours of Wednesday, disrupting hundreds of flights at Moscow airports where world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, were expected to arrive to attend the victory day celebrations.
Maduro arrived sometime on Wednesday for talks with Putin, but Xi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have yet to travel.
Citing what he called Russia's "dangerous neighbourhood," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said mobile internet access would be restricted in Moscow for Friday's Victory Day Parade and events.
Russia was, Peskov said, implementing "all necessary measures" to guarantee "a calm, stable and peaceful atmosphere" for the celebrations.
The anniversary is also an important occasion in Ukraine, where much of the fighting on the eastern front took place, but it is held on May 8 in line with VE Day in Britain and Europe.
