Russia launched a massive overnight drone attack on Ukraine on the early hours of May 3, with officials in five regions reporting civilian deaths. On the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukrainian forces had struck three Russian oil tankers, a cruise-missile-carrying warship, and a patrol boat in separate attacks on two Russian ports.

Casualties in Ukraine

Officials across five Ukrainian regions confirmed fatalities:

• Kherson region: 3 killed in separate incidents
• Odesa region: 2 dead
• Donetsk region: 2 dead
• Zaporizhzhia region: 2 dead
• Sumy region: 1 dead

Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia fired 269 drones overnight. Ukrainian defenses shot down or jammed 249 of them, but 19 drones scored direct hits across 15 locations, and one ballistic missile also struck Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine’s Counter-Strike

Zelensky detailed Ukraine’s retaliatory operations on Telegram. He said that infrastructure at the Primorsk terminal on the Baltic Sea was significantly damaged, with an oil tanker and a patrol boat hit. A Karakurt-class corvette, designed to carry Kalibr cruise missiles, was also struck.

In the Black Sea, Zelensky said two additional oil tankers were hit by Ukrainian drones at the entrance to the port of Novorossiysk. “These tankers were actively used for transporting oil. Now they will not be,” he wrote.

He accompanied the post with black-and-white video footage apparently showing a naval drone approaching one of the tankers.

Strategic Context

Ukraine has conducted a series of successful strikes on Russian oil infrastructure in recent weeks, which Kyiv says has had knock-on effects on Russia’s economy. While Russian authorities have mostly downplayed the impact of such attacks, the Kremlin is clearly concerned about the deep reach of Ukrainian drones into its territory.

Russia’s military claimed that Ukraine fired at least 334 drones, with the northwestern Leningrad region heavily targeted. Export terminals there and in other regions have been repeatedly hit in Ukraine’s campaign against Russian energy infrastructure.

Source: BBC News