Flight operations at 4 Moscow airports suspended due to Ukrainian drone attack

Russian forces intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones fired at almost a dozen regions of Russia the Defence Ministry in Moscow said Tuesday in an attack that forced all four airports around Moscow to temporarily suspend flightsNine other regional Russian airports also temporarily stopped operating as drones struck areas along the border with Ukraine and deeper inside Russia according to Russias civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia and the Defence Ministry It was the second straight night that the Moscow region reportedly was targetedTwo people were injured in the Kursk region according to local Gov Alexander Khinshtein and some damage was reported in the Voronezh regionThe Russian reports couldnt be independently verifiedThe drone assault comes two days ahead of a unilateral 72hour ceasefire in the more than threeyear war announced by President Vladimir Putin to coincide with celebrations in Moscow marking Victory Day in World War IIThe day celebrating Moscows defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 is Russias biggest secular holiday when foreign dignitaries will gather in the Russian capitalMeanwhile Russian forces overnight fired at least 20 Shahed drones at Kharkiv Ukraines secondlargest city near the border with Russia injuring four people regional Gov Oleh Syniehubov wrote on TelegramThe drones started a fire at the biggest market in Kharkiv Barabashovo destroying and damaging around 100 market stalls he saidSeven more civilians were injured elsewhere in the Kharkiv region by Russian glide bombs and drones Syniehubov saidPutin last week declared a brief unilateral truce on humanitarian grounds from May 8 Ukraine has called for a longer ceasefireRussia has effectively rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30day halt in the fighting by insisting on farreaching conditions Ukraine has accepted it the proposal President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saysUS President Donald Trump said Monday at the White House that the brief truce iquestdoesnt sound like much but its a lot if you knew where we started fromForeign leaders who have confirmed their attendance at the Victory Day festivities in Moscow include Chinas President Xi Jinping described by Putin as our main guestIndias Prime Minister Narendra Modi another top ally whom Putin has courted had been expected in Moscow but he cancelled his trip amid tensions with PakistanOther guests include Slovakias populist Prime Minister Robert Fico who has openly challenged the European Unions policies over Ukraine Serbias President Aleksandar Vucic also has accepted an invitation his first trip to Russia since the invasion but his attendance was uncertain after he became illThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params