Key Takeaways
- Russia conducted a devastating missile and drone strike, including with an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), against Ukraine, heavily targeting Kyiv City, on the night of May 23 to 24.
- Russian strikes damaged government buildings and cultural sites in Kyiv City, as the Kremlin threatened it would if Ukraine struck Russia’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations in Moscow City, which Ukraine did not strike.
- Russian forces are increasingly using mass Shahed drone strikes to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses to facilitate successful missile strikes amidst high Ukrainian Shahed interception rates.
- Russian nationalist milbloggers dismissed the strikes as mostly symbolic and noted that the strikes come amidst Russian failures on the battlefield.
- Russia’s justification for the combined strike on Kyiv City contradicts Russia’s long-term practice of deliberate targeting of civilians.
- Ukrainian forces advanced in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area and the Hulyaipole direction.
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