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:
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
Wagner announces retreat from Bakhmut; blames Russian Defense Ministry
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said it will retreat from Bakhmut because of severe shortages in ammunition, according to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the group's leader. He said his forces would withdraw on May 10, blaming Russia’s defense ministry for the retreat.
Wagner has played a crucial role for months in the fighting for Bakhmut, sustaining huge casualties. The announcement and the suggestion of bitter infighting within Russia’s military forces signals division and disorganization just as Russia is bracing for a major Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Prigozhin said he was taking the decision in retaliation against Russia’s military leadership, which he accused of deliberately starving his troops of ammunition because they are jealous of Wagner’s success.
Prigozhin and Russia’s defense ministry have been in a one-sided public feud for months. Prigozhin claims it's now reached a breaking point, delivering a blistering attack on Russia's senior military command in the video announcing the withdrawal. He accused them of being "cowards" and of denying Russians a victory in Bakhmut because of their "petty envy."
Ukrainian military officials said they did not believe Wagner forces would retreat from Bakhmut, suggesting they believed his announcement was an attempt to excuse his failure to seize the city by May 9 as he pledged. A spokesman for Ukraine's eastern command, Sergiy Cherevatyi, said Wagner was running out of fighters, not ammunition.
-ABC News' Patrick Reevell