As ceasefire ends, Russian drone strikes residential building in Kyiv

Prefer on Google by Dmytro Basmat Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 23, 2024. (Oleh Tymoshenko / The Kyiv Independent) Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being update. Russian forces launched dozens of drones towards Kyiv overnight on May 12, hitting a residential building in the city, local officials reported. The latest attack on the Ukrainian capital comes just hours after a U.S.-brokered temporary ceasefire reached between Ukraine and Russia expired. Explosions were first heard in the capital around 3:35 a.m. local time, according to a Kyiv Independent journalist on the ground. Minutes later, Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko reported that drone debris fell onto the roof of a 20-storey residential building in the Obolon district of the city. Ahead of the strike, Ukraine's Air Force warned of dozens of drones approaching Kyiv. The extent of the damage caused was not immediately clear. Russia regularly strikes Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure as it continues to wage its war. The attack follows three days of relative calm in the region as U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire from May 9-11 — a move widely interpreted as an attempt to ensure Moscow could hold its Victory Day parade. During the ceasefire, there were no large-scale airstrikes, though the Ukrainian Air Force reported Russian drone launches and the firing of one Iskander-M ballistic missile from occupied Crimea. After a several month pause in Russia-Ukraine peace negotiation amid the Iran war, the Kyiv Independent has learned that the U.S. is once again attempting to broker a temporary ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia in exchange for sanctions relief for Moscow. In the waning hours of the ceasefire, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 11 that Ukraine will hold back "long-range sanctions" strikes on Russian military targets if Moscow continues to avoid launching mass attacks.