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Drone hits Kharkiv as three-day ceasefire begins
Summary
A look back at 9 May 2026, when a strike on a residential building and a remark by Putin on the war's possible end landed on the same day.
Could a three-day ceasefire hold when it began with a drone strike on a home? That was the question raised on 9 May 2026, the day the truce between Russia and Ukraine started.
Oleh Syniehubov, governor of Kharkiv Oblast, said a Russian drone had struck a residential building in Kharkiv at the beginning of the ceasefire. The city has been the target of numerous Russian rocket attacks since the 2022 invasion began the current phase of the war.
Putin's remarks
The same day, Russian president Vladimir Putin said he thought the war might come to an end soon. He spoke after previously vowing victory over Ukraine during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow. The two statements sat uneasily together: one pledged victory, the other suggested the fighting might stop.
The positions behind the talks
The remarks came against the backdrop of several rounds of peace talks since the invasion began in February 2022, which followed the earlier Minsk agreements from the war in Donbas. As the negotiating positions have been set out, Putin seeks recognition of all occupied land as Russian, the handover of regions Russia claims but does not fully occupy, guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO, limits on Ukraine's military and the lifting of sanctions.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seeks a ceasefire, a full Russian troop withdrawal, the return of prisoners and of kidnapped Ukrainian children, prosecution of Russian leaders for war crimes, and security guarantees against further aggression.
On 9 May 2026, then, the truce was barely under way, and Kharkiv's governor was already reporting damage to a residential building.
