Russian drone strikes kill 13 in Ukraine after ceasefire expires

2026-05-13 17:40:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Thirteen people have been killed and at least 41 others injured in a series of Russian drone and bomb attacks across Ukraine between Tuesday and Wednesday, officials said.

The hardest hit was the central Dnipropetrovsk region, where eight people were killed and 11 injured throughout Tuesday. One casualty was reported in the eastern Donetsk region the same day.

Russian attacks continued on Wednesday, with three people reported killed in the western Rivne region and one person in Zaporizhzhia, in the south.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 800 drones throughout the day and warned that missile launches could follow.

In Russia, officials said Ukrainian drones struck three industrial facilities overnight. No casualties were reported.

The latest attacks come shortly after a three-day US-brokered ceasefire expired late on Monday.

Both Russia and Ukraine reported numerous violations - mostly along the broad front line - during the ceasefire, but no major air strikes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In a Telegram post on Wednesday morning, Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha reported more than 30 Russian attacks in three districts throughout Tuesday.

He said two people were killed in Zelensky's hometown of Kryvyi Rih, and six others in the Synelnykove district - just southeast of the regional capital Dnipro.

"More than two dozen houses were damaged," Hanzha added.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, five people were reported injured and a number of residential buildings were damaged.

Russian drone attacks were also reported in the southern regions of Odessa, Kherson and Zaporizhia, as well as in Poltava - the central region of Ukraine.

Writing on Telegram on Wednesday morning, Zelensky said 14 Ukrainian regions were attacked throughout Tuesday and there were more attacks overnight.

He accused Russia of "deliberately" targeting Ukraine's railway infrastructure and other civilian facilities.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 139 drones in the past 24 hours. It said 111 missiles were shot down or intercepted, but recorded 20 direct hits in 13 locations.

Russian attacks continued on Wednesday, with Ukraine's Hur military intelligence warning that such attacks could "be prolonged."

In a statement, Hur said that in the first wave of attacks, Russia was using a "significant number of attack drones to overwhelm Ukraine's air defense system and strike civilian targets," adding that this could be followed by massive missile strikes.