Ukraine war latest: Russia extends its 'Victory Day truce', kills 7 and injures 35 in attack on Kharkiv Oblast
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Key developments on May 4:
- Russia extends its 'Victory Day truce' to May 8-9, Ukraine says no proposals received
- At least 7 killed, 35 injured in Russian attack on Kharkiv Oblast
- Luxury Moscow tower reportedly hit by Ukrainian drone strike ahead of Kremlin's Victory Day Parade
- Zelensky meets Fico ahead of Slovak leader's Moscow trip
- Russia launches more than 10 times as many drones at Ukraine's port infrastructure in 2026 as last year
- Russian authorities publish list of Tuapse shelters only after days of Ukrainian drone attacks
Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to extend the purported "Victory Day ceasefire" by another day, according to the Russian Defense Ministry's May 4 statement.
The truce would be in effect on May 8 and 9, the Russian ministry said, adding: "We hope that the Ukrainian side will follow this example."
President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier on May 4 that Ukraine had received no official ceasefire proposals, contrasting Russia's claimed truces with ongoing attacks on Ukrainian cities.
"This is Russia's war against Ukraine. If the U.S. and Russia are negotiating, it is important that our side knows what they are talking about," Zelensky said.
Zelensky voiced skepticism about Moscow's interest in halting hostilities, drawing attention to Russia's recent deadly attacks against Merefa in Kharkiv Oblast and Dnipro.
On the morning of May 4, Russian forces struck the town of Merefa in Kharkiv Oblast with missiles, killing at least seven people and injuring another 35, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov and Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported.
Five more people were injured during the day in other settlements of the region, Syniehubov said in his morning address.
In the city of Merefa, an oil refinery is located. It was struck for the fifth time since the start of the full-scale invasion and incurred "significant" damage on April 8.
The May 4 reports do not specify whether the refinery was hit.
Luxury Moscow tower reportedly hit by Ukrainian drone strike ahead of Kremlin's Victory Day Parade
Ukrainian forces launched a drone attack on Moscow overnight on May 4, reportedly hitting a high-rise residential complex in the Russian capital, Russian Telegram media channels reported.
The alleged attack, a rare hit inside Moscow's urban area, comes amid Kyiv's escalating deep strike campaign deep inside Russia, and less than a week ahead of the May 9 Victory Day Parade, the most high-profile display of Russian power in the calendar.
Videos posted on social media appear to show a drone flying at a low altitude towards Moscow just before 1 a.m. local time. Residents reported hearing loud explosions in the capital soon after.
Photos appear to show damage to the upper floor of a high-rise apartment building in the city, reportedly the Mosfilm Tower, a luxury building located west of the city's center. Drone debris was also seen scattered in the street below as emergency crews worked on-scene.
Zelensky meets Fico ahead of Slovak leader's Moscow trip
President Volodymyr Zelensky met Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Yerevan on May 4 to discuss bilateral cooperation and future mutual visits, Zelensky said.
"We discussed cooperation across various areas and holding a government meeting in the format of an intergovernmental commission in the near future," Zelensky commented on X.
"We also addressed Ukraine's EU membership. Importantly, Slovakia supports Ukraine's accession to the European Union and is ready to assist us on this path. I am grateful for that."
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Armenia just days before Fico's planned visit to Moscow for the Victory Day celebrations on May 9.
Fico and Zelensky agreed that the Slovak and Ukrainian governments would hold talks "by the end of June... either in Bratislava or in Kyiv," the Slovak government said.
Russia launches more than 10 times as many drones at Ukraine's port infrastructure in 2026 as last year
Russia has launched over 800 drones against Ukraine's port infrastructure since the beginning of 2026, Oleksii Kuleba, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for restoration and minister for communities and territories development, said on May 4 on Telegram.
The statement comes amid an increase in Russian attacks on Odesa Oblast on the Black Sea, a key hub for Ukraine's exports.
Russian attacks have increased nearly 11-fold compared with 2025, when Moscow launched 75 drones against port infrastructure, according to Kuleba.
"Ports remain a key target of (Russian) attacks," Kuleba said.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, more than 900 port infrastructure facilities in Ukraine have been damaged or partially destroyed, including 177 civilian vessels, Kuleba added.
Russian authorities publish list of Tuapse shelters only after days of Ukrainian drone attacks
Local authorities in the municipality of Tuapse, Russia, have published an official list of bomb shelters for civilians for the first time, more than two weeks after Ukrainian drones began repeatedly targeting the area's oil infrastructure.
The list, posted without announcement on the municipality's website on May 4, is a spreadsheet showing the locations of 186 shelters, most of them in the basements of apartment buildings.
The shelters have a total capacity of about 38,600, compared with Tuapse's population of 61,000. Only one of the listed shelters is accessible to people with disabilities, according to the spreadsheet.
Some Russian cities closer to the border with Ukraine, such as the regional capital of Belgorod in southwestern Russia, have been under attack since 2023 and now have mobile concrete bomb shelters installed at street level.
Even far from the border, at distances of hundreds of kilometers, such measures are now becoming necessary due to Ukraine's expanding long-range strike capabilities.
Since April 16, Tuapse, a town in Russia's Krasnodar Krai and home to one of the largest oil refineries and export terminals on the Black Sea coast, has been systematically targeted by Ukrainian long-range drones.
