<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Russia launched a large-scale wave of strikes on Kyiv and across Ukraine sowing destruction and injuries, officials said early on Monday, as Moscow prepares for its cherished Victory Day holiday that marks the anniversary of its defeat of Nazi Germany.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At least five people were injured due to Russian strikes on Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said, while Russian missiles set ablaze a foodstuff warehouse in the Black Sea city of Odesa and blasts were reported in several other Ukrainian regions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The fresh attacks come as Moscow prepares for its Victory Day parade on Tuesday, a key anniversary for President Vladimir Putin who has evoked the spirit of the Soviet army that defeated Nazi German forces to declare that Russia would defeat a Ukraine supposedly in the grip of a new incarnation of Nazism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia intensified shelling of Bakhmut hoping to take it by Tuesday, Ukraine's top general in charge of the defence of the besieged city said, after Russia's Wagner mercenary group appeared to ditch plans to withdraw from it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Three people were injured in blasts in Kyiv's Solomyanskyi district and two others were injured when drone wreckage fell onto the Sviatoshyn district, both west of the capital's centre, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram messaging channel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kyiv's military administration said that drone wreckage fell on a runway of the Zhuliany airport, one of the two passenger airports of the Ukrainian capital, causing no fire, but emergency services were working on the site.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It also said that in Kyiv's central Shevchenkivskyi district, drone debris seemed to have hit a two-storey building, causing damages. There was no immediate information about potential casualties.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Reuters' witnesses said they had heard numerous explosions in Kyiv, with local officials saying that air defence systems were repelling the attacks. It was not immediately clear how many drones were launched on Kyiv.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration, posted on his Telegram channel photos of a large structure fully engulfed in flames, in what he said was a Russian attack on a foodstuff warehouse, among others.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After air raid alerts blared for hours over roughly two-thirds of Ukraine, there were also media reports of sounds of explosions in the southern region of Kherson and in the Zaporizhzhia region in southeast.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed local official in Zaporizhzhia, said that Russian forces hit a warehouse and Ukrainian troops' position in Orikhiv, a small city in the region. Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Separately, Russian forces shelled eight locations in Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine on Sunday, the regional military administration said in a Facebook post.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the past two weeks, strikes have also intensified on Russian-held targets, especially in Crimea. Ukraine, without confirming any role in those attacks, says destroying enemy infrastructure is preparation for its long-expected ground assault.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Putin invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, calling it a "special military operation" to defend Russia from neo-Nazis in Ukraine, but Kyiv and its allies say it was an unprovoked, land grab.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The invasion sparked the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two and has killed thousands and forced millions to flee the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">(Reporting by Valentyn Ogirenko, Gleb Garanich, Lidia Kelly and Elaine Monaghan; Writing by Lidia Kelly;Editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Perry). Reuters</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>