Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russia for the resumption of fighting following the expiry of a three-day ceasefire, saying Moscow had chosen to end a brief period of relative calm.
“Russia itself chose to end the partial silence that had lasted for several days,” he wrote on X, adding that more than 200 combat drones had been launched towards Ukraine overnight.
Zelensky said Ukraine was responding “in kind,” with Moscow reporting Ukrainian drone strikes deep into Russian territory early Tuesday.
“Russia must end this war, and it is Russia that must take the step toward a real, lasting ceasefire,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Russia had launched a new wave of drone attacks on Ukraine just hours after the temporary truce expired, Ukrainian authorities said earlier. “People have been reported injured as a result of these strikes. And, unfortunately, there are fatalities,” Zelensky said, without specifying locations or numbers.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported overnight drone strikes on the capital Kiev as well as the cities of Zaporizhzhya, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Kherson. The northern Sumy region and southern Mykolaiv region were also targeted.
The head of the capital’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said on Telegram that drone debris fell onto the roof of a 20-storey residential building in the capital.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities said Ukraine had also resumed long-range drone attacks after midnight. Air traffic at several airports in central Russia was restricted for security reasons, Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said.
The Russian military said 27 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted by the morning, with no immediate reports of damage.
Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed that its campaign against Ukraine had resumed at daybreak, saying its forces struck Ukrainian air bases, ammunition and fuel depots, and troop concentrations at 56 locations, though such claims could not be independently verified.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the “humanitarian ceasefire” had ended and that military operations would continue, according to the state news agency TASS.
The three-day ceasefire, brokered by the United States, had been in place from Saturday to Monday. Both sides largely refrained from airstrikes during the period, although each accused the other of repeated violations along the front line and said they had responded accordingly.
Ukraine has long called for a longer truce to allow for negotiations on a ceasefire and a broader peace settlement. Moscow has typically limited ceasefires to short periods around major holidays, including this pause, which coincided with commemorations in Moscow marking the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.