Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin says war was ‘unleashed’ on Russia

The Russian president delivered his annual Victory Day speech.

More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's forces are readying a spring counteroffensive, but Putin appears to be preparing for a long and bloody war.

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Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
May 03, 2023, 2:43 PM EDT

At least 21 killed in Kherson region shelling: Ukrainian officials

At least 21 people were killed and 48 injured by shelling in the Kherson region on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said, as the death toll continues to rise.

A railway station and market in the city of Kherson were hit in strikes, which occurred across the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, officials said.

Rubble in at a destroyed market in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, after a Russian strike, May 3, 2023.
Dina Pletenchuk/AFP via Getty Images

PHOTO: Firefighters stand in front of the carriage of a passenger train damaged following Russian strike in the southern Ukrainian town of Kherson, May 3, 2023.
Firefighters stand in front of the carriage of a passenger train damaged following Russian strike in the southern Ukrainian town of Kherson, May 3, 2023. Russian strikes on Ukraine's southern Kherson region killed 16 people on Wednesday, local prosecutors said as authorities introduced a curfew in the main city of Kherson starting Friday.
Dina Pletenchuk/AFP via Getty Images

"A railway station and a crossing, a house, a hardware store, a grocery supermarket, a gas station -- do you know what unites these places? The bloody trail that [Russia] leaves with its shells, killing civilians in Kherson and Kherson region," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter.

All the victims were civilians, Zelenskyy said.

An ambulance was also damaged in the strikes, according to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin.

"No military objects here. Just civilians, including children," Kostin said on Twitter.

A wounded woman sits outside a train station hit by a Russian military strike, in Kherson, Ukraine, May 3, 2023.
Carlos Barria/Reuters

At least one person was killed and three injured in the strike on the railway station, officials previously said.

May 03, 2023, 2:00 PM EDT

White House announces $300M military aid package for Ukraine

The Biden administration has announced a new $300 million military aid package for Ukraine.

The package includes additional ammunition for U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, as well as "additional howitzers, artillery and mortar rounds, and anti-armor capabilities that Ukraine is using to push back against Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression," the Department of Defense said in a statement.

This marks the Biden administration’s 37th drawdown of equipment from Defense Department inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.

May 03, 2023, 9:48 AM EDT

Zelenskyy denies involvement in Kremlin attack

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Russia's claim that his country was involved in the drone attack on the Kremlin early Wednesday.

Zelenskyy, who is currently in Finland, said the claim was the prelude to a "large-scale terrorist attack" from Russia.

"First of all, Ukraine wages an exclusively defensive war and does not attack targets on the territory of the Russian Federation," Zelenskyy said in a statement. "What for? This does not solve any military issue. But it gives RF grounds to justify its attacks on civilians."

Zelenskyy went on to say that various attacks in Russia could be the result of "guerrilla activities of local resistance forces."

May 03, 2023, 8:31 AM EDT

Russia says Ukraine tried to kill Putin in Kremlin with 2 drones

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has accused Ukraine of trying to strike Putin's residence in the Kremlin with two drones overnight, but said they were brought down before they could reach their target.

No injuries were reported, Kremlin officials said. Putin was not at the residence at the time, they said.

PHOTO: A still image taken from video shows a flying object exploding in an intense burst of light near the dome of the Kremlin Senate building during the alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, May 3, 2023.
A still image taken from video shows a flying object exploding in an intense burst of light near the dome of the Kremlin Senate building during the alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, in this image taken from video obtained by Reuters, May 3, 2023.
Ostorozhno Novosti/via Reuters

Videos released on official social media channels appeared to show a drone strike the roof of the Senate Palace at the Kremlin.

The Kremlin said that "the Russian side reserves the right to retaliate whenever and wherever it deems necessary."

In this file photo taken on April 12, 2023 A "No Drone Zone" sign is pictured in front of the Russian national flag atop the Federation Council building, the upper chamber of Russia's parliament, in central Moscow.
Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images, FILE

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell and Tanya Stukalova

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