War in Ukraine: Deadly night in kyiv and the Latvian government, collateral victim of the conflict

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 Thursday, May 14, 2026, on the 1,541st day of the conflict.

Fact of the day

While there were whispers behind the scenes of the hope of launching new negotiations, Russia carried out a particularly deadly attack during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. The massive bombings which affected the country left sixteen people dead, including two children, and 45 injured, further reducing hopes of a settlement of this deadly conflict which has lasted for more than four years.

Russia launched 675 drones and 56 missiles, the Ukrainian air force said, claiming to have shot down 652 and 41 respectively. The capital, kyiv, the hardest hit, will observe a day of mourning on Friday, announced its mayor, Vitali Klitschko.

Earlier in the day, a UN vehicle was hit by Russian explosive drones in the south of the country, without causing any injuries, according to Volodymyr Zelensky. “The Russians could not have been unaware of the vehicle they were targeting,” he denounced.

Today’s statement

« By bombing civilians, Russia demonstrates less its strength than its weakness: it is short of solutions on the military front and does not know how to end its war of aggression »

This is a statement by French President Emmanuel Macron, after the wave of Russian air attacks. Like him, many people in Ukraine denounced this attack, seeing it as further proof that Russia does not aspire to peace. “While Russia openly mocks diplomatic efforts, we continue to strengthen Ukraine,” declared European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on X, deploring “another night of death and destruction.”

The number of the day

180.000. This is the number of fewer inmates in Russian prisons in five years, partly because Moscow sent prisoners to fight in Ukraine, the head of the prison administration said Thursday. This represents a drop of almost 40%.

Military authorities have recruited heavily from the prison population since the start of the large-scale offensive in 2022, including people convicted of serious crimes who can, if they survive the front, return free. According to the head of the Russian prison administration, inmates are also increasingly put to work in military production, a practice of prison labor also inherited from the Soviet gulag and thus put at the service of the war economy.

The trend

The war in Ukraine got the better of the Latvian government. This Thursday, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina announced her resignation. His position had become untenable for twenty-four hours: his center-right government coalition in power since 2023 lost its narrow majority in the Saeima, under the effect of the defection of elected officials from the Progressives party to which the resigning Defense Minister, Andris Spruds, belongs.

At issue: the inability of the Baltic State to prevent the recent intrusion of Ukrainian drones. And these are two Ukrainian drones which crossed the Russian border on May 7 to crash in Latvia, probably after their guidance system was jammed by Russian air defense.

Our articles on the war in Ukraine

One of them hit an oil storage site in Rezekne, in the east of the country. A fire broke out, quickly contained by the firefighters. Another Ukrainian drone crashed in Latvia on March 25. These incidents caused neither casualties nor significant material damage. But they exposed the deficiencies of the country’s air defense, powerless to neutralize a drone wandering in its space before it fell on its territory.