Russian strikes killed 26 civilians and injured over 150 across Ukraine on May 5

Russian shelling on May 5, 2026, killed 26 civilians and injured over 150 others. Fatalities were reported in the Poltava, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions, while various injuries were recorded in the Kharkiv, Kherson, and Sumy Oblasts, according to the National Police of Ukraine. 

A private yard burns after a Russian strike in the Sumy Oblast

The victims of Russian strikes on May 5 include:

• Four people in the Poltava Oblast, including rescuers Dmytro Skryl and Hero of Ukraine Viktor Kuzmenko, who were targeted by a Russian “double-tap” strike;
• 12 people in Zaporizhzhia, which was attacked by drones, missiles, and guided aerial bombs;
• Six people in Kramatorsk, hit by Russian drones and aerial bombs;
• Four employees of a supermarket distribution center in Dnipro were struck by Russian bombs and missiles.

Since Monday, May 4, the number of civilian casualties from Russian strikes has risen sharply, with the number of injuries also increasing on May 5.

Over fifty people were injured due to Russian attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region. The victims include residents of the regional capital, as well as two individuals from Bilenke and Orikhiv.

More than 30 civilians were injured in the Poltava Oblast, which was one of Russia’s targets overnight. Among the victims in the region are more than 20 rescuers and a police officer, as Russian forces carried out a “double-tap” strike when emergency services arrived at the site of the initial hit.

Private houses in the Donetsk Oblast destroyed by Russian strikes.

In the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, May 5 ended with 19 victims in the regional capital. At least 17 civilians, including two teenagers and several elderly people, were injured by enemy shelling in the Kharkiv Oblast. 

Another 14 people were wounded in the Donetsk region, which Russian forces struck over 1,300 times in a single day using a variety of weapons.

In the Kherson Oblast, 10 civilians were among the victims, including five paramedics from an ambulance targeted by a Russian drone in Sahaidachne. Additionally, the daily report included two people injured back on April 25 in Tomyna Balka, which was once again targeted by a Russian UAV.

Six more civilians were injured as a result of Russian shelling in the Sumy Oblast.

To provide background, on May 4, Russian forces killed 17 civilians across Ukraine.

In total, during more than four years of full-scale war, the Russian military has killed over 15,500 and injured more than 43,000 civilians alone. These figures are incomplete, as they do not include information from Russian-occupied territories, where investigators estimate the number of victims could be ten times higher in some areas.

In March 2026, the number of civilian casualties from Russian strikes rose sharply compared to February – a trend observed for the second consecutive year. The cause is the Russian military’s increasingly active use of indiscriminate weapons, particularly for strikes on cities far from the front lines.

On May 4, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the introduction of a ceasefire. It was scheduled to begin exactly at 00:00 on May 6. Russia did not respond to this.

On May 4, Russia’s Ministry of Defence unilaterally declared a “truce” for 8 and 9 May after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian drones could appear over Red Square in Moscow during the Victory Day parade.

Zelenskyy stated that Russia had violated the ceasefire declared by Ukraine starting on May 6. He promised that, moving forward, Ukraine would act symmetrically.

Meanwhile, the news agency Bloomberg reported that Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, is expected to travel to Miami to meet with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff as early as this week, according to people familiar with the matter.

Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have stalled and haven’t drawn as much attention in recent weeks, eclipsed by the conflict between the U.S., Israel, and Iran, which has spiked global energy prices.

Accused of a war crime by the ICC, Vladimir Putin has shown no signs of stepping back from territorial demands over parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region that Moscow has failed to capture on the battleground in a war now in its fifth year.