Moscow closes airports after drone strikes day before Xi Jinping arrives

Telegraph

06-05-2025

Moscow has been forced to close all of its airports after the Russian capital was targeted by a swarm of Ukrainian drones for the second night in a row.
The city is busy preparing for the annual Victory Day celebrations on Friday, which officials have promised to be the 'grandest' ever to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
Xi Jinping will be among 20 world leaders attending the main parade in Moscow's Red Square – designed to show off Moscow's military might – despite security concerns and the cancellations of events elsewhere in Russia. His three-day visit will be used to discuss the development of the two countries' strategic partnership, the Kremlin says.
At least 19 Ukrainian drones were destroyed on their approach to Moscow 'from different directions', causing no major destruction or injuries, said Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow's mayor.
Flights were halted at all four of Moscow's airports for several hours and a number of regional airports were closed, Russia's aviation watchdog said.
At least 105 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed over 11 regions last night, according to Russia's defence ministry. Ukrainian drone attacks on Monday had also disrupted flights to the city.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has said that his country cannot guarantee the safety of foreign delegations joining the celebrations in Moscow.
'Our position is very simple for all countries travelling to Russia on May 9: We cannot be held responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation, because we don't know what Russia will do these days,' he said.
Vladimir Putin last week declared a three-day ceasefire between May 8 and 10 to coincide with the event.
But Mr Zelensky has dismissed the 72-hour truce offer as a 'theatrical performance' designed to protect Moscow during the parade. Instead, he called on Russia to commit to a US-proposed immediate and unconditional 30-day ceasefire.
Xi will be joined by Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's president, and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, and several of Putin's European allies, including Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian president.
Robert Fico, the Slovakian prime minister, said he would also be in Moscow for the occasion, despite Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, warning the union's member states against attending.
But uncertainty still surrounds Aleksandar Vučić, the Serbian president, who had pledged to attend but has suddenly fallen ill. Brussels had warned Mr Vučić that his presence would violate EU membership criteria and could risk hurting Serbia's accession process to the 27-member bloc.
India's Narendra Modi will not attend the parade because of the growing tensions with Pakistan following a deadly attack in Kashmir last month.
Victory Day is one of the most important dates in Russia's calendar, acting as a tribute to the Soviet Union's triumph over Nazi Germany, in which 27 million Soviet citizens died.
During Vladimir Putin's 25 years in power, he has helped turn May 9 into a grandiose nationwide event celebrating patriotism, statehood and the military, which has swelled in size since the start of the war in Ukraine.
A grandiose military parade will take place on Moscow's Red Square, where Putin addresses the nation. Smaller regional parades will take place across the country.
Next to the Russia-Estonia border crossing in Ivangorod, Russia appears to have set up massive screens and a stage to blast its Victory Day commemorations into the neighbouring EU country.
Footage filmed from the Estonian side of the Narva River showed the installations pointed directly at Estonia.
The stage is adorned with a picture of a Soviet soldier and the phrases 'We Remember!' and '1945-2025'.
The screens are decorated with the ribbon of St George, a Russian military symbol that is commonly used to show support for the invasion of Ukraine.
Air threats every night
But the deployment of most of Russia's military hardware and personnel has limited the scale of the parade and festivities in the past three years.
Moscow has also not ruled out that North Korean troops – thousands of which helped Russia oust Ukrainian forces from its Kursk region will take part in the Red Square parade for the first time.
The Kremlin has also been forced to cancel the Victory Day parade on the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea for the third year in a row, citing 'security concerns'.
The southern Russian region of Krasnador has also called off the celebrations. 'An air threat is announced almost every night. Of course, we cannot risk the residents of Krasnodar, those who come to the parade, the participants in the parade,' said Mikhail Razvozhaev, Krasnador's regional governor .