Two 8-year-old boys were treated for acute stress reactions after a Russian drone struck a residential building in Kharkiv on the night of May 9. Nobody was reported killed.
Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov put the target as a nine-story building in the Industrial district of the northwestern city, and said emergency services were at the scene. The hit came less than 24 hours after a three-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine was meant to begin.
The truce ran from May 9 to 11. U.S. President Donald Trump announced it on May 8, once Moscow and Kyiv had each offered a ceasefire plan of their own. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky then signed a decree “allowing” Russia to stage its Victory Day parade in Red Square with no drone interference.
A Presidential Office official explained the condition to reporters. Ukraine would leave Red Square alone during the parade, but it would stop striking the rest of Russia only if Moscow kept its side of the deal.
Calm that did not hold
For one night, the skies over both countries were unusually quiet. The Kharkiv attack cut that short. Ukraine’s General Staff said fighting on the front lines went on regardless, with 121 combat clashes logged during the day.
Other regions reported civilian losses on May 9. Ivan Fedorov, the governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, said a Russian FPV drone hit a car in the Polohivskyi district, killing a 67-year-old man and wounding two more people. In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, regional authorities said shelling killed a 46-year-old woman and injured an 87-year-old woman.
Earlier truce, same result
The week had already seen one failed pause. Russia declared a 48-hour Victory Day truce for May 8 and 9, and Ukraine responded by announcing its own ceasefire from midnight on May 6. Zelensky said Russia broke Kyiv’s version 1,820 times by 10 a.m. the following morning.
