Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow for the second consecutive night as the Russian capital prepares to host a major annual military parade expected to be attended by world leaders including China\u2019s Xi Jinping. <\/p>\n
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in a Telegram post Tuesday that at least 19 Ukrainian drones were destroyed on their approach to the capital overnight, one night after Russian air defenses shot down four drones near the city. <\/p>\n
There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties following the overnight drone attack on Moscow, but debris from downed drones fell on a major highway, according to the city\u2019s mayor on Tuesday. Flights were also suspended as a safety precaution at four of the capital\u2019s airports, according to Russian aviation authorities. <\/p>\n
The latest Ukrainian attack on Moscow comes ahead of Xi\u2019s expected arrival in the Russian capital on Wednesday for a three-day state visit, in which the Chinese leader will take part in Friday\u2019s May 9 Victory Day celebrations, according to a Kremlin statement Sunday. <\/p>\n
Brazil\u2019s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Vietnam\u2019s President To Lam and Belarussian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko are among other leaders expected to attend. <\/p>\n
Victory Day is the most significant day in Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s calendar, as he has long used it to rally public support and demonstrate the country\u2019s military prowess. <\/p>\n
Thousands of people are expected to line the streets of Moscow\u2019s Red Square on Friday in an exhibition of patriotism marking the Soviet Union\u2019s role in defeating Nazi Germany and commemorating the more than 25 million Soviet soldiers and civilians who died during World War II. <\/p>\n
Putin last month declared a unilateral three-day ceasefire in Ukraine to coincide with the May 9 celebrations based on what he called \u201chumanitarian considerations.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Russian leader\u2019s announcement was met with skepticism in Ukraine and renewed urging from the White House for a \u201cpermanent ceasefire\u201d as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a deal to end the war. <\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the three-day ceasefire, saying he was only ready to sign up for a longer truce of at least 30 days. <\/p>\n
And in a message to dignitaries traveling to Russia for the Victory Day celebrations, the Ukrainian leader warned that Kyiv \u201ccannot be responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,\u201d due to the ongoing conflict. <\/p>\n
Kyiv won\u2019t be \u201cplaying games to create a pleasant atmosphere to allow for Putin\u2019s exit from isolation on 9 May,\u201d Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday. <\/p>\n
In response, Russia\u2019s foreign ministry said his comments amounted to a threat. <\/p>\n
Zelensky has demanded answers from China in recent weeks, after he revealed that two Chinese fighters had been captured by Ukraine in early April and claimed there were \u201cmany more\u201d in Russia\u2019s ranks. <\/p>\n
Beijing denied any involvement and repeated previous calls for Chinese citizens to \u201crefrain from participating in military actions of any party.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kyiv has increasingly turned to drones to level the playing field with Russia, which boasts superior manpower and resources. On Saturday, Ukraine claimed it shot down a Russian Su-30 fighter jet in the Black Sea using a seaborne drone for the first time. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow for the second consecutive night as the Russian capital prepares to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}