A Russian missile attack on the outskirts of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy killed three people, including a 6-year-old child, and injured at least eight others, regional officials said.
The military administration in the border region, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said four of the injured were children, with two of them in serious condition in hospital.
The early evening strike targeted civilian infrastructure in the city's suburbs, the administration said.
Russian attacks have intensified in the region in recent weeks, including a missile strike on Sumy on Palm Sunday last month which killed 35 people.
Officials began evacuating residents from border villages yesterday after an upsurge in military action on both sides of the border and Russian shelling of settlements.
Russia has ramped up its advances on Sumy, where it seeks to create a "buffer zone" after it has recently pushed Ukraine's forces out of the bordering Russian Kursk region.
Russian war bloggers yesterday said Ukrainian forces had launched a new incursion into Russia's adjacent Kursk region.
The strike comes as Ukraine launched a barrage of drones on Russia, killing one woman and forcing Russia to close a dozen of airports just days before foreign leaders gather there for a major Victory Day parade
Ukraine calls for countries to avoid Russia's WWII parade
Ukraine has called on foreign countries not to participate in Russia's 9 May parade to mark 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany, saying it would be "unacceptable" and seen as helping Russia "whitewash its war crimes".
Russia will this week mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany in World War II.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week a three-day ceasefire between 8-10 May to mark the anniversary.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky called the measure pointless and offered an unconditional ceasefire over at least 30 days in line with a US proposal launched in March.
Several countries have in recent years sent their militaries to take part in Russia's traditional parade - a showpiece event that has become the country's most important public holiday under Mr Putin's quarter-century in power.
"The Russian army has committed and continues to commit atrocities in Ukraine on a scale that Europe has not seen since World War II," Ukraine's foreign ministry said.
"It is this army that will march on Red Square in Moscow on 9 May. These people are not liberators of Europe, they are occupiers and war criminals," it added.
Ukraine said marching with Russian soldiers would be considered as "sharing responsibility" for Moscow's actions during its three-year Ukraine invasion.
"To march side by side with them is to share responsibility for the blood of murdered Ukrainian children, civilians and military, not to honour the victory over Nazism," it said.
Ukraine was one of the most devastated countries during World War II, with Kyiv saying it "touched every Ukrainian family".
The foreign ministry also said that six million Ukrainians fought in the Red Army - with five million Ukrainian civilians killed and three million Ukrainian troops.
Mr Putin attributed the victory over Nazism in Europe as a feat primarily achieved by the Russian nation.
Central Asian troops have often taken part in the Moscow parade.
The Kremlin has this year not ruled out that North Korean soldiers could take part for the first time, after Pyongyang's troops helped Moscow oust Ukrainian soldiers from Russia's Kursk region.
Meanwhile Russian air defence units have destroyed a swarm of Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow in a second night attack in a row, prompting the closure of airports in the capital for several hours, officials said.
RIA news agency reported that Russia's air defence units had destroyed 105 Ukrainian drones overnight, citing data from the Russian defence ministry.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on social media that at least 19 Ukrainian drones were destroyed on their approach to Moscow "from different directions," causing no major destruction or injuries.
Three major Telegram news channels that have links to Russian security services - Bazaar, Mash and Shot - said a drone struck an apartment building near a major road in the south of Moscow, smashing windows. There were no reports of casualties.
Russia's aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said flights were halted at all four airports that serve Moscow for several hours overnight to ensure air safety. Airports in a number of regional cities were also closed.
Russia's air defence units this morning destroyed four Ukrainian drones on their approach to Moscow, with no damage or injuries reported.
Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, Ukraine has launched several drone attacks on Moscow. Its biggest attack on the Russian capital in March killed three people.
In the Voronezh region that borders Ukraine in Russia's southwest, at least 18 drones were destroyed, causing small damage in a non-residential building and children playground, regional governor said early this morning.
While Russia's air defence units destroyed ten drones over the southern Pena region, with no damage or injuries reported, a regional governor said on Telegram.
The full-scale of the attack on Moscow and the rest of Russia is not yet clear.
Ukraine says its drone attacks are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to Moscow's overall war efforts and are in response to Russia's continued assault on Ukrainian territory, including residential areas and energy infrastructure.
