These are the key events on day 1,162 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Published On 1 May 2025
Here is where things stand on Thursday, May 1:
Fighting
- Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa early on Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring five, the regional governor said. The attack sparked fires and damaged residential dwellings and infrastructure.
- In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in the northeast, the mayor said another Russian drone had struck a petrol station in the city centre, triggering a fire.
- Ukraine’s SBU security agency claimed responsibility for a drone strike on a defence manufacturing facility in Russia. The strike on Murom Instrument-Building Plant, 300km (186 miles) east of Moscow, sparked a fire and damaged two buildings, the region’s governor reported.
- Russian air defence units destroyed 34 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russian news agencies reported, citing the country’s Ministry of Defence.
- Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, said Russian forces have significantly increased the intensity of their combat activity in eastern Ukraine, despite Moscow declaring a three-day ceasefire from May 8-10.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said some small groups of Ukrainian soldiers were still holed up in basements and hideouts in Russia’s western Kursk region. Moscow claims it expelled Ukrainian forces from the border region over the weekend.
- The Kremlin said at least 288 civilians were killed during Ukraine’s months-long incursion into Kursk.
- South Korean lawmakers, citing their country’s intelligence agency, said about 600 North Korean troops have been killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine out of a total deployment of 15,000.
- United States lawmakers have asked the Department of State to brief them about Russia’s use of Chinese fighters in its war in Ukraine, saying that Moscow could only employ Chinese mercenaries with Beijing’s “ta