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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1 dead, 33 injured in Zaporizhzhia missile strike

One person is dead and 33 others were injured after a missile strike hit the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, according to the head of Zaporizhzhia's regional military administration Yurii Malashko.

Among the victims are two children, who are 7 and 9 years old. Eleven adults were hospitalized, with four in serious condition, according to the secretary of the city council, Anatoly Kurtev.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky


Zelenskyy visits troops after night of Russian strikes

Chinese President Xi Jinping hadn't even left Moscow when the drones started exploding. It came a matter of hours after Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed they were the ones who wanted to make "peace" in Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials say 21 lethal attack drones were launched overnight and into this morning by Russia, with 16 shot down by the Ukrainians.

An apartment block was hit in a town southeast of Kyiv, killing at least four people and injuring others, officials said. Russian officials claim Ukrainian soldiers were based there. The Ukrainians are calling it a "civilian" building.

Russian missiles later hit an apartment block in the heart of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.

And in an apparent repost to the geopolitical theatrics in Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited his troops on Wednesday in the eastern Donbas, not far from the embattled city of Bakhmut, according to his officials.

Bakhmut has become a potent symbol of Ukrainian resistance and sacrifice and despite being surrounded on three sides Ukrainian forces inside the city are, after months of fighting there, still holding on.

Zelenskyy's office released video of him addressing troops and also visiting injured soldiers in a military medical facility in the region. He told troops their "destiny was difficult but important" because they were fighting to save the motherland.

-ABC News' Tom Soufi-Burridge and Yulia Drozd


Missile strikes residential building in Ukraine

A Russian missile struck an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Wednesday, injuring at least 18 people, officials said.

"This must not become 'just another day' in" Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter.

"The world needs greater unity and determination to defeat Russian terror faster and protect lives," he said.

The victims included two children, secretary of the City Council Anatoly Kurtev said. Eleven adults were hospitalized, with four in serious condition, he said.

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti


Explosions reported in several Ukrainian cities

Explosions were heard and felt in the cities of Odesa and Kherson and the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk on Tuesday evening, officials and people on the ground in Ukraine reported on social media channels.

During the attack on Odesa, Ukraine's air defense shot down two X-59 guided missiles launched by Russian fighter jets, the Ukrainian Air Force said on its Telegram channel.

Russia fired four missiles at Odesa, Andriy Yermak, the head of the presidential office, said on his Telegram channel. Two rockets were shot down by Ukrainian air defense, and two rockets hit the city, he said.

Three people were wounded, and a three-story building on the complex of a monastery was damaged, Yermak said.

Three people were killed, and four were wounded as a result of Russian shelling in the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General reported on Facebook.

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman


Ukraine says it was not involved in Nord Stream Pipeline bombings

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov denied Ukraine was involved in the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline, which carries natural gas from Russia to Germany. While the pipeline was not active at the time of the bombing last September, it was filled with fuel.

The denial comes after The New York Times reported that intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials suggests a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the Nord Stream bombings last year.

After the story broke, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned against “jumping to conclusions” about who carried out the explosion, suggesting it could have been a “false flag” operation to blame Ukraine.

German authorities were reportedly able to identify the boat used for the sabotage operation, saying a group of five men and one woman using forged passports rented a yacht from a Poland-based company owned by Ukrainian citizens. The nationalities of the perpetrators are unclear, according to a separate report by Germany’s ARD broadcaster and Zeit newspaper.

“We have to make a clear distinction whether it was a Ukrainian group, whether it may have happened at Ukrainian orders, or a pro-Ukrainian group [acting] without knowledge of the government. But I am warning against jumping to conclusions,” Pistorius said on the sidelines of a summit in Stockholm.

A Russian diplomat said Russia has no faith in the U.S.‘s “impartiality” in the conclusions made from intelligence.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman