Ukraine war briefing: Death toll from strikes across Ukraine rises to 27; Russia shunned at Venice Biennale

The death toll from Russian attacks throughout eastern Ukraine rose to at least 27 people on Tuesday, in one of the worst round of strikes so far this year. The deadly strikes came just hours before the deadline for a proposal from Kyiv for an open-ended ceasefire to begin at midnight. Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha, writing in English on X, said: “With mere hours until Ukraine’s ceasefire proposal comes into force, Russia shows no signs of preparing to end hostilities. On the contrary, Moscow intensifies terror.”

In the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, an attack by aerial bombs and drones killed at least 12 people, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram. Three aerial bombs dropped on the frontline city of Kramatorsk killed six people, prosecutors in eastern Donetsk Region said on Telegram. In Dnipro, in south-eastern Ukraine, a Russian attack killed four, while a Russian overnight strike on the gas production facilities in the Poltava region killed five people, including one person in the neighbouring Kharkiv region.

Russia announced a ceasefire for 8-9 May to coincide with commemorations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the second world war and a military parade in Moscow’s Red Square. Ukraine, in response, announced a proposal for an open-ended ceasefire starting at midnight on Wednesday (2100 GMT), urging Russia to reciprocate.

Meanwhile a Ukrainian drone attack in Russian-occupied Crimea killed five civilians, the region’s Moscow-installed authorities said on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, as a result of the enemy UAV strike on Dzhankoi, there are civilian casualties – five people have been killed,” said Sergey Aksyonov, the region’s head.

The Venice Biennale has begun previewing its 61st edition, just days after the contemporary art show’s jury resigned over the participation of Israel and Russia. The Russian pavilion will only be open to visitors during previews that run through Friday and will not be open to the public after the biennale opens for a 6-month run on Saturday. The pavilion has organised a series of performers for this week, and had an open bar upstairs near a flowering tree. Curators were not available for interviews.

Russia’s opening cost the biennale 2 million euros ($2.3m) in EU funding over three years. The biennale has defended the decision, saying that any country with relations with Italy was free to open a pavilion, a position that has put it at odds with the government in Rome.

Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadryova created “The Origami Deer” to take the place of a nuclear-capable Soviet fighter jet that had long stood in a park in Pokrovsk, in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Curators of the Ukrainian pavilion – its third since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion – evacuated the statue from the park in 2024, with the frontline just 5km (3 miles) away. Co-curator Ksenia Malykh fiercely opposed the biennale’s decision to allow Russia to open its pavilion, calling it “a false attempt to stay neutral”. “You can’t stay neutral in these times. You can’t be neutral when people are dying every day because of Russians,” Malykh said.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke by telephone on Tuesday with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the state department. The two, who spoke at Lavrov’s request, “discussed the US-Russia relationship, the Russia-Ukraine war, and Iran,” a state department spokesperson said.

Separately, the US state department approved the potential sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions - Extended Range and related equipment to Ukraine for $373.6m, it said in a statement on Tuesday. The principal contractor will be Boeing Company, the state department added.

Two drones suspected of violating Finnish airspace at the weekend likely came from Ukraine, which is at war with Finland’s neighbour Russia, the Nordic nation’s border guard said on Tuesday. The drones entered Finland’s airspace from the south and flew towards the north-east into Russian territory, but where they ended up was unknown, the border guard said. The suspected airspace violations took place in the eastern Gulf of Finland, near Finland’s 1,340km (830-mile) border with Russia.