Failed Ceasefire Triggers Largest Drone Barrages of Russia-Ukraine War

A three-day humanitarian ceasefire brokered by Donald Trump to coincide with Russia's Victory Day celebrations collapsed between May 9 and 11, 2026, as both sides traded accusations of violations. Russian strikes killed at least three civilians in Ukraine during the truce, while Russia accused Ukraine of thousands of violations. Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov confirmed there were no plans to extend the ceasefire or resume peace talks.

After the truce expired, Russia launched the largest aerial assaults of the war. Over May 13 and 14, Russian forces deployed more than 1,500 drones and dozens of missiles across roughly 20 Ukrainian regions, killing at least 24 people in a single Kh-101 cruise missile strike on a nine-story apartment building in Kyiv's Darnytskyi district. Strikes also hit energy infrastructure, railways, and a kindergarten. Poland scrambled fighter jets; Hungary summoned the Russian ambassador. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Russia would only accept a ceasefire if Ukraine withdrew from the Donbas, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions — demands Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected as tantamount to surrender.

Ukraine retaliated with its largest drone attack on Moscow since the invasion began. On May 17, approximately 120 drones targeted the capital, striking the Moscow Oil Refinery, the Angstrem semiconductor plant, and fuel pumping stations. At least four people were killed, including an Indian worker at a Gazprom facility. Russian air defenses reported intercepting over 1,000 drones nationwide within 24 hours. Zelenskyy defended the strikes as entirely justified retaliation. Ukraine also struck Russian naval assets in Kaspiysk and oil refineries in Ryazan and Astrakhan.

International responses included a €6 billion EU drone support package, accelerated UK air defense deliveries, and a UN Security Council meeting on civilian casualties. Russia and Ukraine exchanged 205 prisoners each on May 15, the first phase of a planned 1,000-for-1,000 swap brokered by the UAE. Both Trump and Vladimir Putin separately suggested the war was nearing an end, but Peskov clarified there were no specifics, and Russia's territorial demands remained unchanged.