Moscow (AFP) – Ukraine launched overnight on Monday to Tuesday more than a hundred drones on Russian territory, targeting Moscow in particular and disrupting the operation of a dozen airports, the Russian authorities said, three days from the commemorations of victory over Nazi Germany.
While the Russian capital welcomes a large military parade in the presence of Vladimir Putin on Friday and about twenty foreign leaders, its mayor Sergei Sobianine said that 19 drones targeting it had been intercepted by anti-aircraft defense, raising fears of the multiplication of this type of attack in the coming days.
The Russian president ordered a cease-fire between May 8 and 10, on the occasion of these important celebrations, without accepting kyiv’s request from an “unconditional” judgment of hostilities at this stage, Ukraine having for his part hitherto maintained the vagueness over his military intentions during these three days.
In Moscow, drone debris fell on a large avenue south of the Russian capital, according to its mayor Sergei Sobianine, without making a victim.
The Russian media broadcast images of a cracked supermarket showcase and a blackened facade of residential building.
In total, Russia was targeted overnight by 105 Ukrainian drones, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
– several targeted regions –
Four capital airports-the capital-Hydérémétiévo, Domodedovo, Vnoukovo and Joukovski– imposed temporary operating restrictions during the night, some temporarily closing their tracks, according to the Russian agency in charge of civil aviation, Rossaviatsia.
The operation of several other Russian airports had to be temporarily interrupted, especially in several large cities on the Volga such as Nijni Novgorod, Samara, Saratov or Volgograd.
The latter is the old Stalingrad, theater of the deadliest battle in history, which had seen the defeat of the 6th Nazi army in 1942-1943 and was considered a turning point in the Second World War.
The governors of the southern regions of Voronej and Penza indicated that respectively 18 and 10 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted in their territory, without making victims.
In the border region of Koursk, an Ukrainian attack injured two teenagers aged 14 and 17 and caused power cuts, said acting governor Alexandre Khinsteïn.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, Russia had indicated that it had intercepted an attack of drones aimed at Moscow, rarely targeted and where life remains almost normal despite the large -scale offensive launched in February 2022 by the Russian army in Ukraine.
On the Ukrainian side, a Russian drone strike left a dead in the Odessa region, according to Governor Oleg Kiper.
Another person was killed, and two other injured, including a “seriously”, in a Russian strike on Kramatorsk, very close to the eastern front, local authorities also said.
AFP journalists have heard a series of explosions at night there.
Russia said it would observe a three-day ceasefire from May 8 to 10, during the commemorations of victory over Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
Ukraine has not clearly said if it intended to follow this truce announced by Vladimir Putin, President Volodymyr Zelensky assuring “not to believe” that the Russian forces would respect this surprise announcement.
The Russian president had already unilaterally declared a short ceasefire during the Pascal weekend in April, which had led to a drop in fighting without being fully respected by the two camps. He has always refused a stop of unanswered hostilities of 30 days offered by kyiv and Washington.
