The beginning of May was marked by an escalation of Russian terror against the civilian population of Ukraine. In just two days, May 4 and 5, at least 41 people were killed and over 180 were injured in Ukraine. Merefa in Kharkiv Oblast, Zaporizhzhia, Kramatorsk, and Dnipro suffered the most extensive destruction. In addition to residential areas and businesses, the enemy targeted a kindergarten in Sumy and an administrative building in Chernihiv. Targeted strikes on critical infrastructure and Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) facilities are ongoing. Two State Emergency Service (DSNS) rescuers and three Naftogaz employees were heroically killed while performing their professional duties as a result of a treacherous repeated strike.
Chronicle of Russian Shelling from May 3 to May 10, 2026
During the day on May 3, Russians attacked Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Mykolaiv Oblast. In Zaporizhzhia and the surrounding district, a drone attack caused fires in garage premises, injuring nine adults and two children aged two and 12. In Mykolaiv Oblast, a ballistic missile strike hospitalized four people in moderate condition, and one in severe condition; energy infrastructure was hit, and a warehouse building belonging to an enterprise and 17 private homes were also damaged.
On May 4, Russians carried out attacks on energy infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv Oblasts, including shelling five Naftogaz gas production facilities in Sumy and Kharkiv Oblasts. In Merefa, Kharkiv Oblast, a missile attack killed nine people and injured 36, including boys aged 2, 16, and 17, with the children receiving outpatient treatment; the territory of a car service station, four shops, 24 private homes, seven apartment buildings, an administrative building, two dozen cars, a food establishment, an office, and power lines were damaged. For the first time in Kharkiv Oblast, in the village of Bezliudivka, Russians used a small Russian "Banderol" type missile with a flight range of up to 500 kilometers, damaging private homes and injuring three people, with two more killed elsewhere in the oblast. In Vilniansk, Zaporizhzhia, a UAV attack killed a married couple and injured their son, who is hospitalized, and three other people were hurt. Strikes hit the territory of the Vilniansk market and a church: pavilions were destroyed, the church building and nearby structures were damaged, and fires broke out. One more person was killed by an airstrike on Komyshuvakha. In the evening, Russian UAVs attacked a gas station in Zaporizhzhia, with casualties reported. Throughout the day, the enemy attacked residential areas, a critical infrastructure facility, and administrative buildings in border communities in Chernihiv Oblast, resulting in fires and civilian injuries. In Kherson, trolleys will not run until approximately May 10 due to the deteriorating security situation.
Throughout May 5, Zaporizhzhia was under enemy fire. A woman was injured and a non-residential building caught fire as a result of night and morning attacks. During the day, a strike using KABs (Guided Aerial Bombs) on several enterprises in the city killed 12 people and injured 45; fires erupted at a car service station, cars, a store, and an enterprise were burning, and residential buildings, student dormitories, a car wash, and non-residential buildings were damaged. In Kharkiv, a drone attack damaged a civilian enterprise and a residential building. In the morning, Russians attacked railway infrastructure in Kharkiv, Poltava, and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts, damaging wagons and an electric locomotive, with no casualties. The enemy again massively struck Naftogaz gas production facilities in Poltava and Kharkiv Oblasts with UAVs and missiles. In Poltava Oblast, a repeated strike with four missiles during the extinguishing of a massive fire killed two DSNS rescuers: Viktor Kuzmenko, Hero of Ukraine and Deputy Head of the Operational Coordination Center of the Poltava Oblast DSNS, and firefighter Dmytro Skryl, who had dedicated over 20 years to service in the DSNS. 23 more rescuers were injured. Three employees of the enterprise were killed, 12 were injured, three people are in severe condition, and significant destruction and loss of production were recorded. In Kyiv Oblast, three people were injured in drone attacks, and there was damage: in Brovary District, a hit occurred in a residential area, damaging the facade of an apartment building and two private homes; in Vyshhorod District, two private properties, a gas station building, about ten cars, and the territory of an enterprise were damaged. In Chernihiv Oblast, administrative buildings were attacked in Koriukivka District and the oblast center—a fire broke out on the second floor of a building at the impact site, and cars also caught fire, with 17 people suffering acoustic barotrauma.
On May 6, a Day of Mourning was declared in Zaporizhzhia for those killed in the Russian air strike. 18 people remain in hospitals, four of them in severe condition, the rest in moderate condition. During the day, the enemy shelled the symbol of Zaporizhzhia Oblast—the Orikhiv Stele; carried out an airstrike on Zaporizhzhia District, killing one person and injuring two; and struck a private house in Vilniansk with a drone, injuring two people. In Kharkiv Oblast, 17 civilians were injured, including two children. In Kherson Oblast, particularly in the Kherson community, daily destruction of housing stock and mining of territories are recorded.
By the morning of May 7, two people were killed and 12 injured in Zaporizhzhia as a result of Russian shelling. In Mykolaiv, drone attacks damaged the windows of a gas station, injuring one person, while in the oblast, critical and transport infrastructure were struck, including the train "Mykolaiv — Lozova," where the locomotive and a carriage were damaged, but were promptly replaced, and the train arrived in Kharkiv Oblast on schedule thanks to an acceleration along the route. In Kharkiv, railway infrastructure, a kiosk, private homes, garages, and cars were damaged, with three children among the injured. At night, enemy drones flew toward Kyiv Oblast and the capital, with minor damage recorded to private homes in Vyshhorod District. In Chernihiv Oblast, a large-scale fire caused by Russian military aggression raged across an area of approximately 2,400 hectares in two forestry areas, as reported by Suspilne Chernihiv. Due to the extremely complex security situation, a full elimination of the fire is impossible.
As of May 8, one person was killed and 12 were injured in Zaporizhzhia, with fires breaking out and homes and cars damaged. Over the past day, Russians attacked a minibus operating on the Zaporizhzhia — Novotroitske route with an FPV drone, struck a private yard in Zaporizhzhia District with a guided aerial bomb, and attacked the oblast center with a UAV. In the Kherson community, 16 civilians were injured, and there were casualties in Kharkiv Oblast. Large-scale forest fires continue in Kyiv and Chernihiv Oblasts. In the Kyiv Oblast exclusion zone, the estimated fire area is over 1,100 hectares. The extinguishing process is complicated, including by the danger of mines in certain areas. As of 11:00 on May 8, the radiation situation in Ukraine, particularly in northern Kyiv Oblast, is stable, reported the DSNS. In Chernihiv Oblast, over four thousand hectares of forest are burning due to Russian strikes. An increase in the enemy's use of FPV drones with incendiary mixtures has been recorded. Furthermore, Russian drones prevent the fires from being extinguished, launching strikes when forestry equipment is at work.
On May 9, consequences of Russian shelling were recorded in Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts. One person was killed and four were injured in Zaporizhzhia District. In Chernihiv Oblast, Russians attacked an agricultural enterprise with drones, killing a father and son, and another man was hospitalized in moderate condition. An agricultural enterprise in another district was also shelled, with fires breaking out everywhere.
On the night of May 10, an enemy UAV struck the technical floor of a nine-story building in the Industrial District of Kharkiv, resulting in five people, including two children, suffering from acute stress reaction, with three more people injured in the oblast. Seven people were injured in Kherson Oblast, including a child. In Chernihiv and Sumy Oblasts, homes were destroyed by shelling, and in Sumy Oblast, there was one fatality and several injuries.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
During the day on May 3, the enemy army launched a ballistic missile strike on a residential area in Dnipro. The strike damaged a five-story dormitory, where a fire broke out on the roof. It was reported that the dormitory residents were in the basement during the attack, but there were fatalities and injuries. The body of the deceased was recovered from under the rubble. Ukrainska Pravda. Zhyttia reported that the victim was 19-year-old Illya Bezbozhnyi from Myrnohrad, a second-year student at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University. 25 people were injured, including four children, one child in moderate condition. Of the 12 injured, four were hospitalized. All are in moderate condition.
In Dnipro, the university’s administrative building, a business center, residential buildings, an outbuilding, and cars were also damaged, and a public transport stop and a trolleybus were destroyed. In the Solonianka community of Dnipro District, a fire broke out on the territory of a farm.
Throughout May 5, the city remained under enemy attacks. Overnight into May 5 in Dnipro, Russians damaged a critical infrastructure facility and destroyed three private homes, while an infrastructure object was hit in Dnipro District, with fires breaking out everywhere, and a man was hospitalized in severe condition in the regional hospital. During the day in Dnipro, private homes in the residential sector were damaged. A nighttime attack on city enterprises resulted in four fatalities and 19 injuries: four in severe condition and 13 in moderate condition. A large fire raged at the enterprise. Ekonomichna Pravda reported on an attack on the distribution center of the Varus supermarket chain. As of May 6, 15 injured people remained in Dnipro hospitals.
On the night of May 7, Russians attacked Dnipro again, resulting in a fire in an apartment in a five-story building, with neighboring houses and cars damaged. Among the injured residents were a 21-year-old pregnant woman and a 45-year-old man, who received medical assistance on the spot. During the day, the blast wave from another attack damaged windows at a food processing enterprise and two cultural institutions, including the Dnipro National Opera and Ballet Theatre. An agricultural enterprise in the district was also damaged.
On May 7, a Day of Mourning was declared in the city for those killed between April 25 and May 6.
Russians shelled Kryvyi Rih, where a strike hit an apartment building on May 3, injuring six people, including two children hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning. As of May 4, a four-year-old boy remained in the hospital in moderate condition. The strike caused a fire on the sixth floor, and rescuers evacuated ten people from the upper floors of the building, four of them children. By the end of the week, there were several more attacks by attack drones on the city's infrastructure, resulting in damage.
The oblast's communities suffer from daily Russian shelling. As of May 4, the number of children injured in the attack on the gas station in Kamianske District increased to two. As a result of attacks in Synelnykove District, a 13-year-old boy is in severe condition, and girls aged 3 and 10 are in moderate condition. There is extensive infrastructure damage in Nikopol District, with fatalities and injuries, and people hospitalized in severe condition. There were attacks on Zhovti Vody, Samar, and Pavlohrad. Over the weekend, Russian shelling took the lives of two civilians, residents of Nikopol and Synelnykove Districts, with one person in severe condition.
On May 7, an enemy FPV drone struck the car of a DTEK energy brigade heading to perform restoration work in a frontline city; the car was seriously damaged, but the engineers left the vehicle in time. This was the 264th Russian attack on the oblast's grid energy facilities, reported DTEK. On May 10, in Nikopol District, Russians deliberately attacked a fire and rescue vehicle, injuring a 23-year-old rescuer.
Donetsk Oblast
Donetsk Oblast communities are under round-the-clock attacks from FPV drones, fiber-optic drones, and "Molniya-2" type UAVs—they target cars, businesses, civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, and transport. Between May 3 and 4, four people were killed and 11 were injured in Donetsk Oblast. On May 5, in Druzhkivka, the "Phoenix" evacuation group came under an enemy FPV drone attack while performing their official duties, resulting in a rescuer being injured; he is in stable condition, and the service vehicle was damaged.
On May 5, at about 5:00 PM, Russians dropped three FAB-250 bombs with UMPK guidance modules on the central part of Kramatorsk. Six people were killed and 17 were injured. 16 apartment buildings, four administrative buildings, two public institutions, and 14 cars were damaged, and a building belonging to an educational institution caught fire. Rescuers, medics, law enforcement officers, and volunteers worked at the impact site; emergency workers evacuated people from blocked apartments and extinguished the fire over an area of 110 sq.m.
Skhidny Variant reports that the shelling happened instantly, with three high-explosive munitions hitting the densely built central part of the city at once, and people who were on the street, in cafes, and in shops did not have time to react. An entire street was damaged by the strike. The publication quotes eyewitnesses as saying that most of the injured were in severe condition, some of whom died on the way to the hospital, and several of the deceased had severely mutilated bodies.
Press Officer of the 93rd Brigade Kholodnyi Yar, photographer Iryna Rybakova, who documented the consequences of the city's bombing, shared her emotions regarding what she saw:
"This is genocide against the Ukrainian people. This is what one of its manifestations looks like. May all the people who died today give no rest, neither in this world nor the next, to all Russians who worked at bomb factories, developed all these guidance modules, serviced and refueled the planes, or were involved in any other way in this entire infrastructure of murder. Because it is not Putin who kills, it is Russian citizens who kill."
A pre-trial investigation has been launched into the war crime under the procedural supervision of the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office.
May 6 was declared a Day of Mourning in Kramatorsk for the victims.
On May 6, Russians killed three residents of Donetsk Oblast, two of whom died in Druzhkivka. In Kramatorsk, three people were injured, and a private house, an administrative building, and an outbuilding were damaged. At night and in the morning of May 7, the enemy used FAB-500 bombs against the industrial zone in Sloviansk. In the evening, three FAB-250 bombs hit one of Kramatorsk's residential districts: one man was killed, one woman was injured and rescued from under the rubble by rescuers, and an apartment building and three cars were damaged. On May 10, shelling in Kramatorsk caused gas storage tanks to catch fire at two gas stations, and a fire broke out in a nine-story building in Druzhkivka.
Sumy Oblast
In Sumy Oblast, there were daily fatalities and injuries among the civilian population, with border areas suffering particularly heavily. Russians are attacking vehicles, residential buildings, and remotely mining territories. Specifically, in the Sumy community on May 6, a woman was killed and the driver was injured in a strike on a civilian car. In the Velyka Pysarivka community, a man was wounded when he stepped on an enemy mine near his yard, which Russians likely dropped from a drone. In the morning of May 7, Russians killed a woman who was grazing livestock, and animals were injured. Border towns are under constant strikes, particularly Shostka, where the May 4 attack damaged apartment buildings, the Shostka City Council Executive Committee, an extracurricular educational institution, and cars, injuring three people. Over the weekend, despite a "truce" announced by the Russian side, homes were destroyed by shelling, there were injuries, and one man injured in the May 3 attack died in the hospital.
The Russian army is also shelling remote settlements in the oblast. On May 6, the enemy launched a missile strike on an agricultural enterprise in Konotop District, injuring an 88-year-old woman, damaging non-residential buildings, and causing damage to the residential sector.
On the night of April 5, the Russian army launched an air strike on the outskirts of Sumy, resulting in a fire, damaged warehouse buildings, about ten cars, and window damage in a nearby apartment building. In the evening, the enemy attacked a transport enterprise and the private sector with UAVs, hitting a residential building and causing a subsequent fire.
On May 6, two Russian Geran-2 type attack UAVs struck a kindergarten building in the central part of Sumy. Children were not attending the facility, but employees were inside; two of them were killed, women aged 48 and 45, whose bodies were recovered from under the rubble. Seven more people were injured, and one person with more severe injuries remains hospitalized.
The enemy strike destroyed the roof and walls of the building, and a fire broke out, reported Kordon Media—the publication's war correspondents visited the site and documented the consequences of the shelling and the search and rescue operations. Nearby residential buildings were also damaged. Firefighters worked under the threat of repeated strikes.
May 7 was a Day of Mourning in Sumy for those killed in the enemy attack on the kindergarten.
This material was created with the support of the British Council’s “Creative Economy Grants” program
Contributors to the material:
Topic Researcher, Text Author: Yana Yevmenova
Photo Editor: Olga Kovalova
Literary Editor: Yulia Futei
