Russian attacks kill 26 in Ukraine before Kyiv-announced ceasefire

At least 26 people have been killed and more than 80 injured in Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, just hours before Kyiv's ceasefire is to kick in and three days before Moscow's planned pause in fighting.

On Tuesday afternoon, heavy Russian glide bombs hit Kramatorsk, in the east, Zaporizhzhia, in the south east, and Chernihiv, in the north, according to officials.

At least 12 people were killed and more than a dozen injured in attacks on Zaporizhzhia alone, according to the governor of the Zaporizhia region, Ivan Fedorov.

In Kramatorsk, the last hub under Kyiv's control in the embattled Donetsk region, killed at least five people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding later that a Russian attack had also killed four people in the southeastern Ukrainian ⁠city of Dnipro.

At least five people were killed in overnight Russian air attacks on Ukrainian state-run gas facilities in the Poltava and Kharkiv regions, officials say, a day after Kyiv and Moscow announced competing ceasefires that are to take effect later this week.

Three employees and two rescue workers were killed and 37 people were wounded in the overnight missile and drone barrage, Serhiy Koretskyi, the CEO of Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz, said on Tuesday.

"We have sustained significant damage and production losses. This was a combined strike involving UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] and ballistic missiles," Koretskyi said.

He added that the attack cut gas supplies to nearly 3,500 customers.

Zelenskyy said Russian authorities showed "utter cynicism" by announcing a ceasefire and then launching missile and drone attacks on his country.

"Russia could cease fire at any moment, and this would stop the war and our responses. Peace is needed, and real steps are needed to achieve it. Ukraine will act in kind," he said on X.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would observe a ceasefire beginning at the end of Tuesday and would respond in kind to Russia's actions from that moment on, without putting an end date.

A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a ceasefire in the war on Ukraine for Friday and Saturday to mark Russia's victory in World War II.

Ukraine's air force said Russia had launched 11 ballistic missiles and 164 drones at the country since 6pm (15:00 GMT) on Monday. One missile and 149 drones were shot down or neutralised, it said, but eight missiles and 14 drones struck 14 locations.

Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera's Audrey Macalpine said Russian missile attacks were posing a challenge for Ukraine.

"Ukraine has become accustomed to intercepting drones regularly, but it still lacks sufficient means to intercept, especially ballistic missiles, which is why you hear Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy so often pleading with his European partners for more air defence, for things like Patriots [missiles], because they are the only weapons that are capable of intercepting ballistic threats," she said.

Meanwhile, regional authorities in Russia's Chuvashia Republic said on Tuesday evening that two people were killed and at least 32 were wounded in a drone attack.

Oleg Nikolaev, who is the head of the region, announced a state of emergency, according to Russian media reports, adding that the wounded included a child.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine also attacked one of Russia's biggest oil refineries, sparking a fire in an industrial area of the Russian town of Kirishi in the Leningrad region, Governor Alexander Drozdenko said.

"The enemy's main target was the [Kirishinefteorgsintez] oil refinery," Drozdenko said, adding that there were no casualties.

The fire was contained, and firefighting operations were nearing completion, he said.

According to industry sources, the Kirishinefteorgsintez oil refinery, one of the largest in the country, processed 17.5 million metric tonnes of oil (350,000 barrels per day) in 2024, which accounted for 6.6 percent of Russia's total oil-refining volume.

It produced 2 million tonnes of petrol, 7.1 million tonnes of diesel, 6.1 million tonnes of fuel oil and 600,000 tonnes of bitumen.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said its air defence forces destroyed 289 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions overnight.