What did the week before 27 May 2026 reveal about the war?
A look back at the events of 21–24 May 2026, from strikes on Kyiv and Russian oil sites to contested claims over Starobilsk and stalled peace talks.
What did the days leading up to 27 May 2026 say about where the war stood? The reports from 21 to 24 May show a conflict conducted through long-range strikes, rival narratives and diplomacy that had stalled.
Strikes on the capital
On 24 May, a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv killed four people and injured more than a hundred. Several buildings were damaged, among them the National Chernobyl Museum, which was severely hit.
Ukrainian strikes inside Russia
Ukraine carried out its own strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. On 23 May, a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at a Transneft oil terminal in Novorossiysk, in Krasnodar Krai. The following day, the Ukrainian Security Service reported an overnight drone strike on the Vtorovo oil pumping station in Vladimir Oblast.
In occupied territory, on 21 May, Alpha Group forces of the Ukrainian Security Service struck a Russian Federal Security Service headquarters in Kherson Oblast.
Starobilsk and competing accounts
On 22 May, Russian president Vladimir Putin said a drone strike on a dormitory and school in Russian-occupied Luhansk Oblast had killed at least six people and injured dozens more, and he attributed it to Ukraine. Ukraine's military called the comments from Russia manipulation, saying it had hit a drone command unit in Starobilsk.
As described later, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry reported 21 dead and 42 injured. Neither Reuters, the United Nations nor other Western countries could independently verify claims about the incident.
Diplomacy at a standstill
Also on 22 May, U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio said no peace talks were currently taking place, though the United States was ready to play a role if they resumed. The positions of the two sides, as described later, remained far apart: Putin sought recognition of occupied land as Russian, guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO, curtailment of Ukraine's military and the lifting of sanctions, while Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought a ceasefire, full withdrawal of Russian troops, the return of prisoners and abducted children, prosecution of Russian leaders for war crimes and security guarantees.
On 21 May, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said his country would not join the war and that he was ready to meet Zelenskyy.
Preparing for a wider confrontation
On 22 May, NATO conducted Operation Arcade Strike, an exercise in drone warfare held at an unused platform of Charing Cross tube station in London, aimed at readiness for a potential conflict with Russia.
Taken together, the reports from those days describe a war of strikes in both directions, with accounts of civilian harm disputed and no negotiating track in operation as 27 May 2026 approached.
