Russia launched a new series of overnight drone strikes on Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, and the Kherson region, where Ukrainian officials said 21 civilians were killed when various civilian targets in the southern region were hit.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed condolences to the families of the victims, noting that all died in Russian strikes that hit a supermarket, a train station, residential buildings, a hardware store, and a gas station in the Kherson region.
"As of now, 21 people have died! 48 wounded! All civilians! In one incomplete day! In one area!" Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter on May 3, vowing to defeat Russia and hold all perpetrators to account.
The number of people killed in Kherson rose steadily as the drone strikes continued into late in the day.
Among the dead were three employees of an energy company who came under Russian shelling in the afternoon as they worked near two villages.
The Ukrainian Air Force Command said it destroyed 21 of the 26 Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 drones launched in the attack. The drones had been launched from Russia's Bryansk region and from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov, it said.
The capital's military administration said all the drones targeting Kyiv were shot down, without specifying their number. The attack was the third wave of Russian air strikes on Kyiv in six days.
The drones, however, were able to hit civilian targets in Kherson. The Interior Ministry said earlier on May 3 that three civilians were killed at the supermarket at around 11 a.m. local time, and the Health Ministry said on Facebook the one person was killed and six others were wounded in the attack on the train station.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin announced a 58-hour curfew to begin in Kherson city at 8 p.m. on May 5. The regional capital in recent weeks has been regularly shelled from Russian forces positioned across the Dnieper River.
Civilians Killed During Russian Strikes In Kherson Region
Elsewhere in Ukraine, the Prosecutor-General's Office said two people were killed and nine wounded by Russian shelling of several cities and villages in the Donetsk region, and an investigation has been launched.
A drone hit the city administration building in Dnipro, Serhiy Lysak, head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram, and explosions were reported on social media in the Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhya regions.
There also were reports of fires at various locations in Russia, including at a fuel depot in the Russian village of Volna near the bridge to Crimea, and the Kremlin claimed that it foiled a drone attack aimed at striking President Vladimir Putin's residence at the Kremlin. Ukraine denied any involvement in the alleged attack, suggesting Moscow staged it ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
In the Donetsk region, Russian forces spearheaded by Wagner mercenaries continued to launch waves of assaults over the past 24 hours on Bakhmut, which remains the focal point of Moscow's efforts in the east.
"Russian troops focused on conducting offensive operations in the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka directions carried out more than 30 attacks, Ukraine's General Staff said in its daily report on May 3. The Russian attacks were repelled, it said.
On May 2, a Ukrainian military commander vowed not to give up Bakhmut.
Ukraine still holds some parts of the city after months of fierce fighting against regular Russian troops and Wagner mercenaries.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the group, said in a statement published by his press service on Telegram, that he believes Ukraine's promised counteroffensive has begun and the "active phase" would start in the coming days.