Ukraine brushes off Russian blame for Kremlin drone strike; 21 civilians die in shelling of Kherson region
Moscow has accused Kyiv of attempting a drone strike on the Kremlin with the aim of killing the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin said two drones had been used in the attack but were disabled by Russian defences. In a statement on its website, the Kremlin said it considered the attack a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the life of the president of the Russian Federation.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy denied Ukraine was responsible. “We don’t attack Putin, or Moscow, we fight on our territory,” he said. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the US could not confirm Russian reports that Ukraine targeted Putin.
Russian shells killed 21 civilians in Ukraine’s Kherson region on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said, including hitting a hypermarket, a railway station and residential buildings.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine would soon start a counteroffensive on its own soil against Russian forces. “This is why I am sure we will soon have aircraft. Because we will soon conduct an offensive, and after it I am sure we will be given planes,” he said.
Russia launched its third nightly round of attacks on Kyiv in six days, authorities in the Ukrainian capital said on Wednesday, with a drone hitting a building in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine’s air force command said its forces destroyed 21 of the 26 Iranian-made Shahed drones, while Kyiv officials said air defence systems eliminated those sent over the city, with no initial reports of casualties or destruction.
A fuel storage facility near a key bridge in Russia’s south-western region of Krasnodar was on fire in the early hours of Wednesday, the regional governor said, but there were no reports of casualties. Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency has reported that the fire at an oil facility in Volna was caused by “the fall of a drone”. Smoke from the fire could be seen from across the Kerch Strait in occupied Crimea.
Zelenskiy has said the White House did not advise him about the leak of highly classified US intelligence documents that has received widespread attention around the world. The failure to brief him was “unprofitable for us”, he said. “It is not beneficial to the reputation of the White House, and I believe it is not beneficial to the reputation of the United States.”
A group of Nordic countries have backed Ukraine to become a member of Nato and the EU after a joint statement during Zelenskiy’s visit to Finland. Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland issued a joint statement in which they said: “The Nordic countries will continue their political, financial, humanitarian and military support for as long as it takes.”
Zelenskiy is due to make a visit to the Netherlands on Thursday, where he will deliver a speech and will have meetings with the prime minister, Mark Rutte, and members of parliament, according to the Dutch government.
German police said Zelenskiy would travel to Berlin on 13 May though a security source later said public disclosure of the visit was premature and it was now unclear if it would go ahead.
Ukraine and the EU have reached an agreement to continue their “economic visa-free” deal for another 12 months. The initial deal was struck in 2022 after the outbreak of war. It means Ukrainian businesses will be able to continue to sell goods to the EU without any quotas, export duties or tariffs.
