By VOLODYMYR YURCHUK
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes killed at least five people across Ukraine on Friday, including in a “massive” missile and drone attack near the capital, local authorities reported. Ukrainian officials claim the Kremlin is changing its tactics to increase civilian suffering, shifting to daytime barrages and preparing to target more key infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled Kyiv’s openness to a potential Easter truce. The holiday is celebrated on April 12 in both Ukraine and Russia.
Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is preparing for a shift in Russian aerial tactics, with intelligence indicating that future attacks will move beyond energy infrastructure.
In Russia, 192 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russia and occupied Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday morning.
Almost 500 drones and missiles launched at Ukraine, authorities say
“The Kyiv region is once again under a massive Russian missile and drone attack,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the regional military administration, in a Telegram post on Friday morning.
According to Kalashnyk, one person died and at least eight more were wounded in strikes on three of Kyiv’s satellite towns — Bucha, Fastiv and Obukhiv.
Another person was killed in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region after a Russian guided aerial bomb struck an apartment block, local Gov. Oleh Hryhorov reported. Authorities in the Kherson, Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions also reported casualties from Friday’s attacks.
Ukrainian officials highlighted what they said were increased daytime attacks by Russia, which they said could lead to more civilian deaths. For months, Moscow pummeled Ukraine with nighttime missile and drone strikes that could involve hundreds of drones at a time.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, said in a post on X that “almost half a thousand drones and cruise missiles” attacked Ukraine overnight.
“This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire proposals — with brutal attacks,” Sybiha said.
Kyiv floats an Easter ceasefire
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday signaled Kyiv’s continued openness to a potential truce on Easter, which falls next week according to the Julian calendar followed by Orthodox churches in Ukraine and Russia.
Zelenskyy told reporters that the proposal had been communicated to Moscow through U.S. channels. He added that the Kremlin’s response remains unclear.
Zelenskyy has previously offered a ceasefire for the Easter period — but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that Moscow wants a lasting peace settlement, not a temporary truce.
President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour ceasefire last Easter, but each side accused the other of breaking it.
A change in Russian tactics?
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russia was increasingly striking the country during the day, an apparent departure from months of nighttime barrages.
Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation within Ukraine’s defense ministry, said that the daytime strikes aimed to “increase civilian casualties.”
“That is why the combined attack is carried out on a working day, using a large number of drones and missiles,” Kovalenko wrote on Friday in a Telegram post.
Zelenskyy told reporters on Thursday that Ukraine is preparing for Russian aerial attacks that could target water systems, logistics and other critical networks. After months of sustained strikes on power facilities, Kyiv now expects increased pressure elsewhere.
“According to intelligence documents we have received, the Russians will target logistics – railways and other infrastructure. They will also target the water supply,” Zelenskyy said at a press briefing.
Elsewhere in Ukraine on Friday, a Russian drone strike damaged a passenger bus in the southern city of Kherson, leaving the driver seriously wounded and at least eight passengers hurt.
Regional government officials said several people were hospitalized, adding that the 51-year-old driver was being treated for head wounds and multiple fractures.
Separately, authorities reported sustained attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, beginning on Thursday and continuing into early Friday. Drone strikes near the city center caused several injuries. One man died of his wounds after being taken to a hospital, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote in a Telegram update.
According to the head of Kharkiv’s Department of Emergency Situations, Bohdan Hladykh, Russia struck the city at least 20 times during the day on Thursday, using explosive drones.
Ukrainian drones target Russia
Two people were hospitalized on Friday following a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Leningrad region, over 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) from the border, regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko reported. According to Drozdenko, the drones also set fire to an “unoccupied” building within the Morozov industrial zone.
The settlement of Morozov houses a state-owned plant that makes explosives and components for ammunition, including solid fuel used in Topol-M missile systems. The plant was put under U.S., EU and other Western sanctions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Twelve people, including at least three Russian soldiers, were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike late Thursday on Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported. Separately, he said that seven people were wounded in the region after a drone struck a commercial facility.
Four drones were downed during the night on the approach to Moscow, mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported Friday. He did not reference any casualties or damage.