Overnight Ukrainian strikes in the Russian capital of Moscow forced the closure of all four major airports in the city for several hours. The attack, targeting Moscow, was the second strike in a row.
Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia announced on Telegram that the main airports of Moscow were shut down for several hours in response to the drone attacks before they were reopened on Tuesday.
The mayor of the capital city, Sergei Sobyanin, claimed that Russia had downed 19 Ukrainian drones before they reached Moscow “from different directions”. He added that some of the debris had fallen on key highways across the city, however, there were no casualties.
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.
The consecutive attacks came ahead of Moscow marking this week the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany in World War Two. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week a three-day ceasefire from May 8-10 to mark the anniversary.
In the Kursk region, acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said an attack was carried out on an electrical substation in the city of Rylsk late Monday, injuring two teenagers.
“As a result of the attack on the city, two transformers were damaged, and the power was completely cut off,” he said on Telegram.
Victory Day ceasefire
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he does “not believe” Russia would adhere to a three-day truce to coincide with Moscow’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9.
“This is not the first challenge, nor are these the first promises made by Russia to cease fire,” Zelensky said at a news conference with Czech President Petr Pavel.
“We understand who we are dealing with, we do not believe them,” said Zelensky, who arrived in Prague Sunday for a two-day visit accompanied by his wife.
“Today and all these days they are talking about wanting some kind of partial ceasefire, but you should know, for example, that the number of assaults today is the highest in recent months,” Zelensky said.
With inputs from agencies