Key Developments on May 29:
- Ukraine’s air defense shoots down 11 ballistic, cruise missiles aimed at Kyiv Oblast during second attack in 24 hours
- Russian forces attack several oblasts, killing 4 people and injuring 25
- Ukraine's parliament votes in favor of additional sanctions against Iran
- Putin signs law ‘allowing’ elections, forced deportations in Russia-occupied territories
- Prosecutor’s Office: 483 children killed, 986 injured since start of full-scale Russian invasion
- Russian positions reportedly struck in occupied Berdiansk, village near Mariupol
Eleven ballistic and cruise missiles targeting Kyiv Oblast were shot down by Ukraine’s air defense in the late morning on May 29, marking the second Russian attack on the capital in less than 24 hours.
According to Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Russia launched 11 ballistic and cruise missiles from the north around 11:30 a.m. local time.
However, reports from on the ground in Kyiv indicate that explosions were heard in the capital as early as 11:00 a.m.
At least one person in Podil district was hospitalized after sustaining injuries during the attack, Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported.
The attack is the second on Kyiv in the past 24 hours.
According to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, Ukraine's air defense successfully intercepted 30 drones and 36 cruise missiles launched across Ukraine, with some targeting Kyiv, overnight on May 29.
Russia has ramped up its attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, with the latest one marking the 16th in May.
Stanislav Storozhenko
Russian forces attack several oblasts, killing 4 people and injuring 25
Russian forces shelled several oblasts across Ukraine on May 29, killing four people and injuring 25, according to local officials.
Two people have been killed and eight others injured following a guided bomb attack in the city of Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.
One of the guided bombs struck a local gas station and killed a 28-year-old employee.
Eight people, including six women and two men, sustained injuries of "varying degrees of severity," according to the report.
Another person who was injured by the explosion when a second bomb struck an administration building died while being transported to the hospital.
The Kherson Oblast Administration reported that Russian forces targeted the village of Kozatske, killing a 61-year-old man in his home. The village of Zolota Balka was also struck by Russian shelling, but there were no casualties.
According to Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov, Russian forces launched an Iskander missile at the village of Kivsharivka. A pregnant woman, a 14-year-old teenager, and a 10-year-old child were injured. Three elderly women, aged 73, 85, and 90, also sustained injuries.
Russian forces also shelled the village of Hlushkivka, where a 60-year-old woman was injured by shrapnel.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 10 people were hospitalized after Russian forces shelled the Synelnykove district, including an 11-year-old boy, Governor Serhii Lysak said.
Three of the 10 people are in serious condition. A 51-year-old woman was also killed, according to Lysak.
Anastasiia Lapatina
Ukraine's parliament votes in favor of additional sanctions against Iran
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, voted in favor of the proposal to impose additional sanctions against Iran for a period of 50 years, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak reported on May 29.
According to Zhelezniak, 328 lawmakers voted in favor of the proposal.
President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the parliament on May 28 to approve a draft resolution on the sanctions.
The draft resolution proposed a comprehensive ban on all trade activities with Iran, including investments and technology transfers. It also aimed to halt the transit of Iranian products through Ukrainian territory and prohibit the withdrawal of Iranian assets held in Ukraine.
Iran has supplied Russia with kamikaze drones which have been used to launch mass attacks against Ukraine's infrastructure, resulting in civilian deaths and significant financial losses.
Putin signs law ‘allowing’ elections, forced deportations in Russia-occupied territories
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a bill on May 29 that “permits” elections to be held in the occupied territories of Ukraine, according to a Russian government website.
Russian law typically prohibits holding elections in areas under martial law. The exemption was likely made for the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, to stage elections and create an illusion of legitimacy surrounding the Russian authority.
Additionally, the new Russian law “allows” the "forced and controlled movement of citizens from the territory where martial law is imposed to territories where martial law is not imposed."
In late April, Putin signed a decree “allowing” the deportation of Ukrainians in occupied territories who refuse to take Russian citizenship by July 2024.
The Kremlin staged illicit referendums in September of last year and claimed the annexation of four of Ukraine’s partially occupied regions.
Moscow's troops do not have full control of these regions, and two regional capitals – Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – are under Ukrainian control.
According to international law, Russia’s legislation has no legal effect in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Francis Farrell
Prosecutor General’s Office: 483 children killed, 986 injured since start of full-scale Russian invasion
The Prosecutor General’s Office reported on May 29 that at least 483 children have been killed and 986 children have been injured since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.
However, the actual number of casualties is expected to be significantly higher due to the challenges of accurately calculating them in front-line areas experiencing active fighting or under Russian occupation.
Among the total 1,469 casualties, Donetsk Oblast accounted for 462 victims, followed by Kharkiv Oblast with 278, Kyiv Oblast with 128, Kherson Oblast with 102, Zaporizhzhia Oblast with 91, Mykolaiv Oblast with 89, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast with 72, Chernihiv Oblast with 70, and Luhansk Oblast with 67.
An additional 394 children have officially been reported as missing, the Prosecutor General’s Office added.
Tens of thousands of other Ukrainian children also remain unaccounted for within Russia and Russian-controlled territory.
According to the Ukrainian government portal Children of War, over 19,000 Ukrainian children have been illegally deported to Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion. Meanwhile, only 371 of them have been successfully brought back to Ukraine.
Daria Shulzhenko
Strikes reported near Russian positions in occupied Berdiansk, village near Mariupol
Ukraine launched a strike on Russian-held positions in the occupied city of Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to a report from exiled local authorities on May 29.
Exiled local authorities said that at least five strikes were carried out overnight, and local Telegram channels reported explosions near the airport.
While the Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims, it would not be the first time that explosions have been reported near the city, which has been under Russian occupation since late February 2022.
The recent strikes on Berdiansk, which were also reported on May 25 and 27, align with the continued focus on targeting Russian military bases and ammunition depots in the occupied territories leading up to Ukraine’s long-anticipated counteroffensive.
A healthcare facility in the village of Yurivka near occupied Mariupol was struck, killing 100 Russian soldiers and injuring more than 400 others, Petro Andriushchenko, exiled advisor to the mayor of occupied Mariupol reported. He did not specify if it was Ukrainian forces or local partisans who carried out the attack.
Four buses transporting the Russian soldiers had arrived the day before, according to intel provided to Andriushchenko by local Ukrainian partisans.
A communication station and an electronic warfare system were reportedly destroyed in the strike, as was the healthcare facility, according to Andriushchenko.
Anastasiia Lapatina
