Moscow: Russian forces unleashed deadly missile, drone and bomb strikes on Good Friday across Ukraine, killing at least eight people — including near the capital in a massive overnight barrage — even as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced keenness to an Easter truce on April 12, the Orthodox date in Ukraine and Russia.
“The Kyiv region is once again under a massive Russian missile and drone attack,” Mykola Kalashnyk, Kyiv regional military administration head, posted on Telegram.
The strikes hit three satellite towns — Bucha, Fastiv and Obukhiv — just days after Bucha marked four years since Russian forces’ atrocities there.
Obukhiv resident Lesia Podoriako, 37, was at work with her child when alerts came. “I found out about it through Telegram channels. Then all my friends and acquaintances started calling me, telling me that our building was attacked. I have no words. The main thing is that everyone is alive and healthy,” she told Associated Press.
Up north in Sumy, Gov. Oleh Hryhorov confirmed one person was killed when a Russian guided aerial bomb demolished part of an apartment block. Casualties mounted in Kherson, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions from the widespread attacks.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha decried the attack. “Almost half a thousand drones and cruise missiles overnight… This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire proposals – with brutal attacks.”
Zelenskyy said on Thursday Kyiv relayed the truce idea through US channels, awaiting Moscow’s view. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov countered earlier this week that Russia pursues a “lasting peace settlement,” not fleeting pauses. Putin last Easter imposed a unilateral 30-hour ceasefire, which both sides later blamed the other for violating.
Ukrainian analysts flagged Russia’s move to daytime strikes after prolonged nighttime swarms. Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Defense Ministry’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, explained on Telegram the aim is to increase civilian casualties. “That is why the combined attack is carried out on a working day, using a large number of drones and missiles.”
Zelenskyy, citing intelligence, warned of expanded targets like logistics hubs like railways, water systems and other critical networks beyond battered power infrastructure. Russia’s Defense ministry claimed intercepting 192 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russia and occupied Crimea.
In eastern Donetsk’s Kramatorsk, Russian forces dropped five aerial bombs around midday, killing two civilians and wounding three, regional head Vadym Filashkin updated on Telegram.
Southern Kherson reported a drone strike on a passenger bus, severely injuring the 51-year-old driver—who sustained head trauma and multiple fractures — and at least eight passengers, all hospitalised.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, weathered sustained drone hits from Thursday evening into early Friday near the centre, injuring many. Governor Oleh Syniehubov posted on Telegram that a 29-year-old woman and a man died from their wounds in hospital.
