Vladimir Putin’s troops were accused of breaking a three-day ceasefire called to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two on Friday.
Russia marked its most prominent military day with a massive parade on Red Square on Friday attended by Putin and a slew of foreign leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The military display included drones used to target Ukraine, including recent deadly attacks on Kyiv and other cities.
The Russian president had declared a three-day ceasefire, which began on Thursday morning, ahead of the May 9 Victory Day.
But Ukraine’s armed forces said on Friday that Russian forces had mounted multiple attacks on Ukrainian front line positions in the past 24 hours, with rockets, air-dropped bombs and raids on Ukrainian positions.
Ukrainian authorities said Russian strikes killed at least two people in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Both sides have accused the other of carrying on fighting, with Kyiv claiming Russian forces have launched more than 700 attacks.
Russia's defence ministry accused Ukrainian troops of nearly 500 ceasefire violations.
Victory Day is Russia's most important secular holiday.
A Red Square parade and other ceremonies underline Moscow's efforts to project its global power and cement the alliances it has forged while seeking a counterbalance to the West amid the conflict Ukraine that has dragged into a fourth year.
World War II is a rare event in the nation's divisive history under Communist rule that is revered by all political groups, and the Kremlin has used that sentiment to encourage national pride and underline Russia's position as a global power.
The Soviet Union lost a staggering 27 million people in what it calls the Great Patriotic War in 1941-45, an enormous sacrifice that left a deep scar in the national psyche.
Festivities this year were overshadowed by Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow and severe disruptions at the capital's airports.
Russian flag carrier Aeroflot on Wednesday morning canceled more than 100 flights to and from Moscow, and delayed over 140 others as the military were repelling repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on the capital.
Russian authorities have tightened security ahead of the parade and cellphone internet outages have been reported amid electronic countermeasures aimed at foiling more potential drone attacks.
Speaking at the parade, Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, saying that "we are proud of their courage and determination, their spiritual force that always has brought us victory."
The Russian president has rejected Donald Trump’s plan for a 30-day truce that Ukraine has accepted to pave the way for peace talks.
As the Red Square parade and other festivities unfolded in Moscow, dozens of European officials were meeting in Lviv, in western Ukraine, to endorse the creation of a special tribunal tasked to prosecute Russian officials accused of war crimes.
