Russians kill five Ukrainians in Mykolaivka in Donetsk Oblast
Russian troops killed five people and injured two others in their strike on the village of Mykolaivka in the Kramatorsk District of Donetsk Oblast, Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk Oblast Military Administration, reported.
“The Kramatorsk District. In Mykolaivka, five people have been killed and two injured; damage has been caused to five residential buildings, three multi-storey buildings and three office buildings,” he stated.
One more person was injured in the village of Bilenke in the Kramatorsk hromada. Residential buildings, an office building and a vehicle were also damaged across other settlements in the district.
Russian forces also struck the Pokrovsk and Bakhmut Districts, damaging an office building and residential buildings in both areas.
To provide background, Russian military strikes killed five civilians in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions on May 25, and wounded at least 81 others, including in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Sumy Oblasts.
Aftermath of the Russian attack on Kyiv on 24 May 2026Previously, ZMINA also reported that updated data shows Russian military strikes killed nine civilians in Ukraine on 24 May.
In other news, Brussels has criticised the US decision to extend a sanctions waiver on Russian oil sales, warning that the move will only increase Moscow’s financial gains since the start of the Iran war, Euroactive reported.
“From the EU point of view, we do not think that this is the time to ease pressure on Russia,” Valdis Dombrovskis, EU economy commissioner, told reporters.
“In fact, Russia is the one which is gaining from the war in Iran and the increase in fossil fuel prices,” he added. “Correspondingly, if anything, we need to strengthen that pressure.”
The remarks come after Scott Bessent, US treasury secretary, announced on Monday night that Washington would extend by 30 days a sanctions waiver for Russian oil already at sea.
Meanwhile, Associated Press reported that a bipartisan group of U.S. senators has demanded that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth release $600 million in security assistance to Ukraine and Eastern European allies, saying the Pentagon missed its own deadline for delivering a spending plan to Congress.
The letter calls for the release of $400 million in aid to Ukraine and $200 million for defence programmes in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — funding that Congress approved last year.
The letter was signed by Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican Senators Kevin Cramer and Thom Tillis, and Democratic Senators Michael Bennet and Catherine Cortez Masto.
Hegseth told lawmakers more than three weeks ago that funding for Ukraine had been “released” and that a spending plan would soon be submitted to Congress. Senators say the Pentagon missed its promised 15 May deadline.
“Any further delays – particularly as the Department reportedly plans troubling troop withdrawals from the region – risks our ability to adequately deter Russia,” the senators said.
A Democrat-backed proposal gaining support in the House would expand sanctions against Russia and provide $1 billion in military assistance to Ukraine. Although the package is unlikely to pass, it has renewed momentum among lawmakers in support of Ukraine’s war effort.
AP noted that the $400 million earmarked for Ukraine is relatively small compared with multi-billion-dollar aid packages approved in the months and years following Russia’s full-scale invasion, but has become a symbol of continued congressional support.
