Russia's Airports Close as Drones Rain Down

All four international airports around Moscow temporarily suspended flights on Tuesday as Russian forces intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones fired at almost a dozen Russian regions, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said. Nine other regional Russian airports also temporarily stopped operating as drones struck areas along the border with Ukraine and deeper inside Russia, according to Russia's civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, and the Defense Ministry. It was the second straight night that the Moscow region reportedly was targeted, per the AP.

The drone assault threatened a planned unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in the more than three-year war announced by President Vladimir Putin to coincide with celebrations in Moscow on Thursday marking Victory Day in World War II, a celebration of Moscow's defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 and Russia's biggest secular holiday. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry urged foreign countries not to send military representatives to take part in the parade for that event, as some have in the past. None is officially confirmed for this year's event. Security is expected to be tight, and Russian officials have warned that internet access could be restricted in Moscow during the celebrations. Residents have also been warned not to set off fireworks.

The Russian reports of the drone strike couldn't be independently verified. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 136 strike and decoy drones overnight, including at least 20 Shahed drones at Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city near the border with Russia, injuring four people, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. The drones started a fire at the biggest market in Kharkiv, Barabashovo, destroying and damaging around 100 market stalls, he said.

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Seven civilians were hurt elsewhere in the Kharkiv region by Russian glide bombs and drones, Syniehubov said. In Kramatorsk, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, Russian Shahed drones killed one person and injured two others, Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko wrote on Facebook. The drones targeted residential and industrial areas of the city, he said. In the Odesa region, Russian drones struck residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, killing one person, regional head Oleh Kiper wrote on Telegram.

(More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)