Ukraine war latest: Two Russian fighter jets destroyed by sea drones as video emerges

Russia and Ukraine are at odds over competing ceasefire proposals.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday, in comments made public on Saturday, that Moscow’s announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire next week in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in the Second World War is an attempt to create a “soft atmosphere” ahead of Russia’s annual celebrations.

Mr Zelensky instead renewed calls for a 30-day pause in hostilities, as the US had proposed. He said the proposed ceasefire could start any time as a meaningful step toward ending the war.

Mr Putin on Monday declared the unilateral 72-hour ceasefire as the US presses for a deal to end the three-year war.

The Kremlin said the truce, ordered on “humanitarian grounds”, will run from the start of May 8 and run until the end of May 10 to mark Moscow’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 – Russia’s biggest secular holiday.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has claimed that the reason he did not launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2014, when he illegally annexed Crimea, was because it was “practically unrealistic”.

In comments aired Sunday in a film by Russian state television about his quarter of a century in power, Mr Putin said: “The country was not ready for such a frontal confrontation with the entire collective West.”

Dismissing Vladimir Putin’s offer of a brief ceasefire in May as yet “another attempt at manipulation” is an understatement. The Russian president is – according to the former head of MI6 – intent on taking much more than just Ukraine.

Far from being worried by recent mini-threats from Donald Trump to increase sanctions or stung by the US president’s irritation at Russia’s stalling over a ceasefire, Putin is cupping his ears in a pantomime of attention and carrying on doing as he pleases.

Such behaviour chimes with the uncharacteristically stark message from ex-spy chief Sir Alex Younger who, after a lifetime in the shadows of espionage, has a simple message: “If you don’t stand up to him, he comes back for more – how many more times do we need to be told this?”

World affairs editor Sam Kiley:

Ukrainian forces struck a factory in Russia’s Bryansk region destroying much of the facility, the local governor said on Sunday.

In a statement on Telegram, governor Alexander Bogomaz, whose Bryansk region borders both Ukraine and Belarus in the far west of Russia, said that the workshops and administrative buildings of the factory in the village of Suzemka had been destroyed.

There were no casualties, he said.

Mash, a Telegram channel with links to Russia’s security services, said that the factory produces electrical equipment, including transformers. It said it had been struck with a Grad rocket system.

Mash posted video of a large plume of smoke, coiling above a factory. The footage could not be verified.

Ukraine has struck Russian industrial facilities that it accuse of producing equipment for Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine since the beginning of full-scale hostilities in February 2022.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will make an official visit to Russia from 7-10 May, where he will participate in celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Kremlin said on Sunday.

In a statement on Telegram, the Kremlin said that Xi will discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin the development of the two countries’ strategic partnership, as well as signing a number of documents.

“During the talks, the main issues of further development of relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction, as well as current issues on the international and regional agenda will be discussed,” the Kremlin said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has appeared to take a dig at Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban over his opposition to Ukrainian accession to the EU.

In a post on X, the Ukrainian president thanked the Czech Republic – whose president he met in Prague on Sunday – for its support for Ukraine’s path towards EU membership.

But he added: “It is regrettable that certain individuals in Europe are blocking this progress—not to serve their nations’ interests, but to secure a better seat on the grandstand in Red Square.”

It comes amid a war of words between Kyiv and Hungary’s hard-right government, which advocates a much softer stance against Russia, over Ukraine’s application to join the EU.

“What matters for all of us in Europe is that European values—not whims of individual politicians—truly prevail,” he added.

One man was killed and three people were injured after Russian attacks on the Dnipropetrovsk region earlier on Sunday, according to the head of the region’s military administration.

“In the afternoon, Russian forces dropped a guided aerial bomb on the Novopavlivka hromada [village] in the Synelnykove district,” Serhii Lysak said according to Ukrainska Pravda.

“A 54-year-old man was killed… The attack sparked two fires. A house and an outbuilding caught fire.”

At least six civilians were injured in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region following a series of Russian attacks on Sunday morning, local authorities said.

Three civilians aged between 65 and 69 were injured in the city of Druzhkivka, where the scale of damage is still being assessed by authorities, the chief of the region’s military administration, Vadym Filashkin, said.

Two people were injured in Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian strategic town on the frontline where Russian forces have been pushing towards for months.

Another person was injured in the village of Zarichne, in an attack which completely destroyed two residential buildings.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded “more sanctions” on Russia with a peace deal still appearing far from being reached.

“Three things are needed. More sanctions against Russia, continued support for Ukraine, and a significant increase in defence cooperation across Europe,” Mr Zelensky said.

“Russia must know that Europeans will defend themselves.”

Mr Zelensky was speaking from Prague alongside Czech president Petr Pavel, who he met on Sunday to discuss artillery and F-16 support.

Mr Pavel said Russia had yet to show any indication it wanted to proceed with measures to end the war.

“If someone has all the cards in their hand to end the war then it is President Putin, who can do it with a single decision,” he told reporters. “But so far the will has not appeared.”