Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow intercepts over 50 drones headed for capital ahead of Putin’s parade
Russia says its air defence units have intercepted and destroyed more than 50 drones heading for Moscow yesterday, just hours before Vladimir Putin’s celebrations for Victory Day began.
Putin has sought a three-day ceasefire starting at midnight from 7 May until 10 May to hold a parade in Moscow’s Red Square to mark the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
But the Moscow mayor said more than 50 drones were downed between 11am yesterday and 2am in the early hours today, in addition to 95 Ukrainian drones being intercepted over a four-hour period ending at midnight in various regions of central and southern Russia.
In Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin’s proclamation of a limited ceasefire showed his “strange and inappropriate” logic.
Moscow wants “to hold their parade, to go out onto the square safely for an hour once a year, and then continue killing, killing our people and waging war”, Zelensky said.
Russia also violated the Ukraine-led ceasefire which started on Wednesday and killed more than a dozen people in strikes across the country.
