The Kremlin has said it wants Kyiv to give a clear answer to its call for a cease-fire lasting from May 8 to May 10 even as its forces continued to pound civilian targets in Ukraine.
“We will, of course, await not ambiguous but definitive statements and, most importantly, actions aimed at deescalating the conflict over the public holidays," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
His comments came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the truce proposal as “theater.”
And they preceded a Russian attack near the strategic city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, reportedly killing two civilians.
Earlier, a major overnight Russian assault on Ukraine between May 2 and 3 targeted multiple regions with missiles and drones, according to local authorities.
The Ukrainian military reported that two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 183 strike and decoy drones had been launched at the Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk, and Mykolayiv regions.
The northeastern city of Kharkiv, located near the Russian border, bore the brunt of the drone offensive. The city sustained hits at 12 locations across four districts on the evening of May 2, resulting in dozens of casualties.
One local woman whose apartment was damaged told RFE/RL that the overnight assault had given her "a nervous breakdown."
"Everything is broken, everything is destroyed," she said. "Many people are cut up."
The woman, who gave her name as Natalya, said her home was rocked by an explosion as she was about to go to bed.
"The only thing that saved me was perhaps the corner that I was behind and the blanket that I had over me -- or simple luck," she said.
"We are alive and well, that's important."
Local authorities said at least 51 people had been injured and that eight had been hospitalized. The victims included two girls, aged 11 and 16.
Moscow has denied allegations of deliberately striking civilian targets in Ukraine throughout the war, even though repeated attacks on hospitals, schools, energy facilities, and residential buildings have been documented.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian General Staff said 216 combat clashes had taken place at the front on May 2 and that more than a third of the fighting was recorded in the direction of Pokrovsk, with Ukrainian authorities saying they had repelled 83 attacks.
The area around the strategic town of Pokrovsk remains one of the heavily contested areas at the front with the largest number of combat clashes being recorded there over the past year.
Vadym Filashkin, head of Ukraine's Donetsk Regional Military Administration, said that in the town of Myrnohrad late on May 3, "the Russians killed a 56-year-old man and damaged six private houses. The second fatality was a 69-year-old resident of Komar."
Also, the correspondent of the Radio Liberty Donbas Realities project reported that a Russian attack on Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region led to fires breaking out in several private homes. Local authorities have not yet commented on the attack.
In Russia, the governor of the Krasnodar region said a Ukrainian drone attack had hit a residential building in Novorossiisk, on the Black Sea.
He said two adults and two children were injured.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed to have shot down 170 Ukrainian drones in various regions. The number included 96 in Russian-occupied Crimea. They also claimed to have destroyed eight Storm Shadow cruise missiles over the Black Sea.
Battlefield reports cannot be independently verified.
Russian pro-war blogs also reported the Ukrainian drone attacks. Two of them reported that a Russian Su-30 fighter was shot down over the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian intelligence service claimed it was the first time ever that an unmanned naval drone had shot down an enemy warplane. At least one Russian blogger also reported that this had happened.
WATCH: Footage shared on social media purportedly showing a drone downing an Su-30 warplane:
The fighting again underlined how US-led efforts to broker a cease-fire have stalled.
In the latest move, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested a three-day truce to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, running from May 8 to May 10.
Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready for a 30-day truce as proposed by Washington.
Speaking to reporters on May 2, Zelenskyy said Putin's offer was aimed at making international guests feel safe at the annual Red Square parade on May 9.
Among those slated to attend are Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"We do not recommend visiting Moscow on May 9. Don't ask us for assurances. It's your choice to go there," Zelenskyy said.
