Have you missed the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening. Here is the gist of this Friday, May 8, 2026, on the 1,535th day of the conflict.
News of the day
A major forest fire broke out in the Chernobyl prohibited zone, in northern Ukraine, after a drone crashed, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday. These ensure that no increase in radioactivity had been detected. The gusts of wind and the difficult terrain hampered the intervention of the firefighters. The governor of the neighboring region of Cherniguiv, Vyacheslav Tchaous, indicated for his part that the fire spread over an area of 40 square kilometers and “was caused by Russian strikes”.
Today’s trend
No lull on the operations front. Russia and Ukraine continued their mutual drone attacks this Friday after the entry into force at midnight of a unilateral truce decreed by Moscow before the commemorations in Russia on May 9, which will take place under high security. Ukraine has never declared that it would respect Moscow’s call to stop the strikes and castigated the approach of Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of wanting to suspend the fighting for the sole purpose of organizing a parade on Red Square on Saturday. Russia threatened to launch a massive strike in the heart of kyiv if Ukraine were to disrupt the parade on Saturday in Moscow.
Sentence of the day
« We are coordinating the schedule of necessary visits, and we expect representatives of the US President to attend the Spring and Summer Hinge. »
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday he hoped American negotiators would come to Ukraine in the coming weeks for talks on ending the war triggered by the Russian invasion which are currently at a standstill.
The number of the day
More than 3,000. The World Health Organization announced on Friday that it had recorded more than 3,000 attacks against healthcare facilities in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. “During 1,534 days of war, the Ukrainian health system has suffered attacks “WHO has verified more than 3,000 attacks against health services,” the organization’s European leadership wrote in a statement.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
In 80% of cases, the attacks targeted a hospital or health center and in the remaining 20% an ambulance or health vehicle. “Each of these attacks constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law,” said WHO Europe director Hans Kluge. “This cannot be normalized.”
