On the eve a national holiday commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany, Russia launched drone strikes in Ukraine.

The mayor of Kyiv said that Russia fired 60 kamikaze drones made in Iran at Ukrainian targets including 36 at Kiev’s capital.

At least five people were injured in Kyiv after debris from the drones hit buildings and apartments.

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Officials reported that three people were hurt when a missile set fire to a food warehouse in Odesa on the Black Sea.

For hours, air raid alerts were blaring over about two-thirds Ukraine. Local media reported that explosions had been heard in southern Kherson and the south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region.

Regional officials reported that on Monday, Russian artillery shelling inflicted eight injuries, including one to a nine-year old boy, in Kherson, a region in southern Ukraine.

The attack by Russia comes just before its Victory Day celebrations, which celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany on 9 May.

In a symbolic break from Moscow, Ukraine moved the holiday on 8 May to coincide with Victory in Europe Day in Western countries.

The reason for the difference is that in Berlin, the German army surrendered on 8 May 1945 while in Moscow it was 9 May.

The drone strikes overnight are the biggest drone swarm in a renewed Russian aerial campaign that started ten days back.

Kyiv reported that Moscow is also making a last push to capture Bakhmut in the east before the 9th of May holiday.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the nation on a hilltop overlooking Kyiv. He said, “Remembering the heroism displayed by millions of Ukrainians during that war against Nazism we see the same heroics today.”

“Unfortunately the evil has returned. As it did then, evil is now rushing into our villages and towns. It killed our people back then and it kills them now.

“All the evils that Russia’s modernization is bringing back, will be destroyed just like Nazism.”

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Moscow is preparing to celebrate Tuesday’s Victory Day Parade, which will be the most important event in the Russian calendar under Putin. Putin uses the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 as a justification for his invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has curtailed a number of huge military celebrations. Western countries claim that this is due to security concerns, and partly because Moscow has lost a lot of military hardware during a winter offensive against Ukraine which saw the most intense ground battles in Europe since World War Two.

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said that Mr Zelenskyy betrayed Ukrainians’ memory by changing the date.

What is worse than an opponent? A traitor. She said: “That is Zelenskyy. The embodiment of Judas for the 21st Century.”