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Russia launched a dozen cruise missiles at Ukraine’s capital early on Tuesday, Kyiv officials said, hours before the start of Victory Day celebrations in Moscow marking the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. The attacks came a day after Moscow launched its biggest drone swarm yet in a renewed air campaign targeting Ukrainian cities. Follow FRANCE 24 for live updates. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
7:10am: Head of Wagner Group says still no sign of promised ammunition
Russia’s mercenary Wagner forces have not yet received the ammunition promised by Moscow, the head of the group has said, rowing back from comments made just hours earlier.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose forces have spent months trying to capture the eastern Ukraine city of Bakhmut, added that he did not want to “spoil” Russia’s big Victory Day parade, and would reveal more details afterwards.
“The people who were supposed to fulfil the (shipment) orders have so far, over the past day, not fulfilled them,” Prigozhin said in a video post on the messaging app Telegram.
Late on Monday, he had said preliminary data showed his troops were beginning to get the ammunition, while cautioning they had not “seen it in practice”.
6:15am: Russia launches new attack on Ukraine’s capital
Russia has launched about 15 cruise missiles at Kyiv, the second attack in as many days, with air defence systems shooting all of them down, officials said, after air raid alerts blared over most of the country.
“As at the front, the plans of the aggressor failed,” Serhiy Popko, head of the capital’s military administration, said in comments posted on the Telegram messaging app.
The attacks come a day after Russia launched its biggest drone swarm yet in a renewed air campaign unleashed 10 days ago after a lull since early March.
They coincide with Russia’s Victory Day, one its most commemorated public holidays, marking the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
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Key developments from Monday, May 8:
Russian forces launched a large-scale wave of strikes across Ukraine ahead of the annual Victory Day celebrations, killing four people and injuring five.
The strikes targeted the capital Kyiv, where officials said 36 Iranian-made kamikaze drones were shot down, as well as the Black Sea city of Odesa and other cities.
In a new break with Moscow, Ukraine marked the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s World War II defeat on Monday, rather than Tuesday, in line with its Western allies.
Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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