Czech President Petr Pavel welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Prague Castle, May 4, 2025 (Ray Baseley/Kyiv Independent)
Sunday’s Coverage: Russia’s Drone Assaults on Kyiv and Kherson
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1844 GMT:
Ukraine’s UAVs have struck the control center of Moscow’s drone units near the village of Tetkino in the Kursk region in western Russia, less than 10 km (6 miles) from the border.
The Ukrainian military said its attack killed up to 20 members of the Russian crews of unmanned reconnaissance and attack drones. Their equipment was destroyed.
UPDATE 0743 GMT:
Air defenses shot down 42 of 116 drones launched by Russia overnight, and 21 were lost to electronic warfare.
The Russians also fired two ballistic missiles.
An industrial facility was struck in the Sumy region in northern Ukraine, and damage was also reported from the Donetsk region in the east.
UPDATE 0725 GMT:
Writing for The Guardian, Pjotr Sauer and Shaun Walker detail Russia’s “hybrid warfare” across Europe, and multinational effort to track down the network behind sabotage operations.
They describe a Polish-led investigation that broke up a Russian-backed criminal network last November. The group is accused of sending parcels with camouflaged explosives on cargo planes across Europe, triggering fires at three locations.
Prosecutors believe the plotters planned shipments with explosives to the US and Canada. The exploding parcels could have led to a plane crash and mass casualties.
When they received the intelligence about the sabotage, top officials in the Biden Administration called their Russian counterparts to demand that Vladimir Putin halt the plans.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine expects 3 million artillery shells from allies to maintain its resistance against Russia’s 38-month full-scale invasion.
Addressing journalists in Prague alongside Czech President Petr Pavel, Zelensky said, “The Czech artillery initiative is working brilliantly….If Ukraine is strong, the war will end.”
Pavel said a Czech-led European Union initiative, launched last year, will deliver up to 1.8 million artillery shells to Ukraine by the end of 2025.
Zelensky cautioned the Kremlin that other streams of military aid are ensuring Ukraine fends off the invasion. On Monday, a meeting will be held with Czech defense companies, and discussions are underway for a Ukrainian-Czech pilot training school for F-16 fighter[ jets.
Zelensky added, “Forcing Russia to go for a full, unconditional ceasefire, especially since it was a proposal from the United States and we supported it, is also a priority task.”
Pavel emphasized, “Putin can end the war with a single decision but he has not shown any willingness so far.”
The European Union’s Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius reinforced the statements from Prague, saying the EU will “effectively double the volume of weapons Ukraine receives” by investing in domestic weapons production.
“If Putin isn’t convinced by Trump to make peace, we could bring forward more convincing arguments for peace very quickly — by greatly increasing our military support to Ukraine,” Kubilius said.
Until now, the EU and US have provided around 40 billion euros ($45 billion) a year of military aid to Ukraine. But we can spend that same amount procuring modern weapons in Ukraine, which would cost about half as much as those made in the EU or US.
