Russian attacks killed at least 27 people across Ukraine on Tuesday, hours before Kyiv's proposed open-ended ceasefire was due to begin. The toll, among the year's worst, came as Russia's participation in the Venice Biennale triggered a dispute over whether cultural institutions can remain neutral.
Zaporizhzhia and Kramatorsk bear deadly attacks
In the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, aerial bombs and drones killed at least 12 people, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram. It was the largest death toll reported among the attacks across eastern Ukraine. Originally reported by The Guardian.
Three aerial bombs struck the frontline city of Kramatorsk, killing six people, prosecutors in eastern Donetsk Region said on Telegram. A Russian attack on Dnipro, in south-eastern Ukraine, killed four.
An overnight Russian strike on gas production facilities in the Poltava region killed five people, including one in the neighbouring Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha wrote in English on X: "With mere hours until Ukraine's ceasefire proposal comes into force, Russia shows no signs of preparing to end hostilities. On the contrary, Moscow intensifies terror." His statement underscored the gap between Kyiv's ceasefire initiative and the continuing attacks.
Competing ceasefire dates and a $373.6m weapons proposal
Russia announced a ceasefire for 8-9 May, coinciding with commemorations of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in the second world war and a military parade in Moscow's Red Square.
Ukraine responded by proposing an open-ended ceasefire starting at midnight on Wednesday (2100 GMT), urging Russia to reciprocate. The proposals differed in duration: Moscow's covered two days, while Kyiv's had no announced end date.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke by telephone on Tuesday with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. A state department spokesperson said the conversation, requested by Lavrov, covered the US-Russia relationship, the Russia-Ukraine war and Iran.
Separately, the US state department approved a potential $373.6m sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions - Extended Range and related equipment to Ukraine. Boeing Company would be the principal contractor, the department said on Tuesday. The announcement concerned a potential sale, not a reported delivery of the weapons to Ukrainian forces.
Russia's Venice pavilion costs €2m in EU funding
The Venice Biennale began previews of its 61st edition days after its jury resigned over the participation of Israel and Russia. Russia's pavilion will admit preview visitors through Friday but won't open to the public during the six-month exhibition beginning Saturday.
The pavilion organised performers this week and an upstairs open bar near a flowering tree. Curators weren't available for interviews. Russia's opening cost the biennale 2 million euros ($2.3m) in EU funding over three years.
Organisers defended allowing any country with relations with Italy to open a pavilion, putting them at odds with the government in Rome.
Ukraine's pavilion, its third since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion, features Zhanna Kadryova's "The Origami Deer". It replaced a nuclear-capable Soviet fighter jet in a park in Pokrovsk, in Ukraine's Donbas region. Curators evacuated the statue in 2024 when the frontline was just 5km (3 miles) away.
Co-curator Ksenia Malykh called Russia's inclusion "a false attempt to stay neutral". Ksenia Malykh said: "You can't stay neutral in these times. You can't be neutral when people are dying every day because of Russians."
Crimea deaths and drones over Finland
A Ukrainian drone attack killed five civilians in Dzhankoi, in Russian-occupied Crimea, Moscow-installed regional head Sergey Aksyonov said on Wednesday. The reported deaths added another civilian toll as the rival ceasefire initiatives approached.
Finland's border guard said on Tuesday that two drones suspected of violating Finnish airspace over the weekend likely came from Ukraine. They entered from the south and flew north-east into Russian territory, but their eventual destinations were unknown.
The suspected violations occurred in the eastern Gulf of Finland, near Finland's 1,340km (830-mile) border with Russia. Finland's neighbour remains at war with Ukraine, and the drones' route brought that conflict across another national boundary.
Attention now turns to whether the proposed pauses bring any halt to attacks, while Venice prepares for Saturday's public opening without access to Russia's pavilion.
Originally reported by The Guardian. View original.