Russia kills 8 in Ukraine as Zelensky says Moscow fears drones

At least eight people were killed in the latest Russian attacks in Ukraine, regional officials said Monday.

Six people were killed in a missile strike on the town of Merefa in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, and 24 others were injured, the region’s military governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

The victims are believed to be men and women aged 41 to 74.

Several residential houses, high-rise buildings and shops were damaged. The Bezliudivka settlement was also attacked by a drone, he said.

Two men were killed in various attacks in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

A 72-year-old man was killed by artillery fire in the village of Shyroka Balka and another 71-year-old in a shelling in the village of Komyshany, the statement said.

Ukrainian drone hits building in Moscow

The Russian attacks follow a Ukrainian strike Monday morning on a residential building near central Moscow. The damaged building, described by the kyiv Independent as a luxury skyscraper, is located in a western district of the capital that is also home to several embassies.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, according to the official TASS news agency, that there were no injuries.

Zelensky: Moscow fears Ukrainian drones

Russia has been waging a full-scale war against Ukraine for more than four years, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday he sees signs of Russia’s weakness.

Russia has decided not to display military equipment during its annual parade commemorating the Soviet victory in World War II on May 9 over fears of Ukrainian drone attacks, Zelensky told a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

“This summer will be a time when [Russian President Vladimir] Putin decides what to do next: expand the war or move to diplomacy. And we must push him towards diplomacy,” Zelensky said.

“Russia announced a parade on May 9 in Moscow without military equipment,” Zelensky said, referring to the Russian Defense Ministry’s decision.

“If this happens, it will be the first time in many, many years. They cannot afford to buy military equipment – and they are afraid that drones will fly over Red Square. This is telling. It shows that they are not strong now,” Zelensky said while urging Ukraine’s partners to maintain sanctions.

Sweden arrests another suspected Russian ghost ship

Zelensky thanked his allies for monitoring and pressuring Russia’s secret “ghost fleet.”

On Sunday, the Swedish coast guard arrested another ship suspected of belonging to the ghost fleet, which refers to vessels attempting to conceal their identities to avoid Western sanctions.

The coastguard stopped an oil tanker sailing under the Syrian flag near Trelleborg in southern Sweden. The ship, named “Jin Hui”, is on the sanctions lists of the EU, Ukraine and the UK and is suspected of sailing under a false flag, Swedish Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin wrote on X.

Investigators will also question the ship’s Chinese captain on suspicion that the tanker was unseaworthy.