Russian air defenses shot down 347 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said Thursday, in what appeared to be a major attack after Moscow spurned Kyiv\u2019s ceasefire earlier in the week and tension mounted over safety at Russia\u2019s upcoming Victory Day celebrations.<\/p>\n
Incoming drones were destroyed over 20 Russian regions, including Moscow, according to the Defense Ministry, in Ukraine\u2019s second-biggest aerial attack since Russia\u2019s all-out invasion more than four years ago. The largest was last March when it launched 389 drones.<\/p>\n
Dozens more Ukrainian drones were launched during daylight hours Thursday, the ministry said, including some heading again toward Moscow. Nearly 100 flights in and out of the Russian capital\u2019s three main airports \u2014 Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo \u2014 were delayed or canceled by midday, the Moskva news agency reported.<\/p>\n
The attacks came ahead of Russia\u2019s most important secular holiday, Victory Day, which marks the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Russian authorities have declared a unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine for Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n
Ukraine had responded to that with its own suspension of hostilities from midnight Tuesday. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow disregarded the goodwill gesture and launched fresh attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussia has not stopped any type of its military activity. Unfortunately, it has not stopped. Ukraine will act symmetrically,\u201d Zelensky said in his regular evening video address Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He said Thursday on X that Russia\u2019s attacks have been ceaseless, with drones, missiles, artillery shelling and glide bombs hitting civilian areas of Ukraine, including the power grid and rail network.<\/p>\n
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine\u2019s second-largest, a drone strike wounded nine people, including three children, local officials said.<\/p>\n
Tension has grown as Russia\u2019s Victory Day celebrations approach and U.S.-led peace efforts gain no traction.<\/p>\n
All mobile internet access and text messaging services will be shut down in the Russian capital on May 9, state media reported Thursday, citing the country\u2019s Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media.<\/p>\n
A traditional parade in Moscow won\u2019t feature the usual tanks, missiles and other military equipment for the first time in nearly two decades.<\/p>\n
The Russian Defense Ministry cited the \u201ccurrent operational situation\u201d as a reason for excluding military equipment. <\/p>\n
Russian authorities say they are concerned about possible Ukrainian attacks, as Kyiv has expanded its long-range drone and missile capabilities.<\/p>\n
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that additional security measures were being taken due to the \u201crather complex operational situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The measures being taken \u201care necessary to ensure the safety of citizens, which is an absolute priority,\u201d Peskov told reporters.<\/p>\n
Among the foreign dignitaries expected to attend the Victory Day ceremonies on Saturday are Slovakia\u2019s Prime Minister Robert Fico, Malaysia\u2019s King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith, and Belarus\u2019 authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko. <\/p>\n
Russia repeated its recent warnings to Ukraine that it would take decisive action \u2014 including a potential mass strike on Kyiv \u2014 if Ukrainian attacks disrupt the occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have strengthened our focus on the possibility of retaliatory measures,\u201d presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists Thursday.<\/p>\n
Also, Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry advised foreign embassies and international organizations located in Kyiv to evacuate their offices in case such a strike did take place.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s air defense shot down 92 of the 102 drones Russia launched overnight, the military said. <\/p>\n
Russia maintains a significant advantage in drone numbers, regularly deploying hundreds in a single attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russian air defenses shot down 347 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry said Thursday, in what appeared to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1357,1821,904,592,356,8633,3112,2873,26,8635,5,6428,7612,25,8634],"class_list":{"0":"post-16171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-moscow","8":"tag-attack","9":"tag-ceasefire","10":"tag-defense-ministry","11":"tag-drone","12":"tag-kyiv","13":"tag-major-drone-attack","14":"tag-ministry","15":"tag-missile","16":"tag-moscow","17":"tag-other-military-equipment","18":"tag-russia","19":"tag-saturday","20":"tag-thursday","21":"tag-ukraine","22":"tag-upcoming-victory-day-celebration"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}