MOSCOW (Reuters) – Ukraine attacked Moscow with drones for a third day on Wednesday forcing most of the Russian capital’s airports to close just as Chinese President Xi Jinping was due to arrive to mark the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that Russian air defence units destroyed at least 14 Ukrainian drones from 10 p.m. on Tuesday (1900 GMT) until Wednesday morning.
Moscow’s key airports remained out of operation for most of the night, and Russian national carrier Aeroflot said it was reordering timetables to cope with the disruption.
Twenty-nine world leaders, including Xi, are expected to attend World War Two Victory Day commemorations in Moscow in the coming days, according to the Kremlin. Military units from 13 countries, including China, will take part in the parade.
Xi is due to start a four-day visit to Russia on Wednesday, giving President Vladimir Putin an important diplomatic boost at a time when the Russian leader is keen to show his country is not isolated on the world stage.
Xi, whose country is locked in a tariff war with the United States, is expected to sign numerous agreements to deepen the already tight “no limits” strategic partnership with Moscow, which has consistently seen China crowned Russia’s biggest trading partner.
The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War Two, including many millions in Ukraine, but eventually pushed Nazi forces back to Berlin, where Adolf Hitler committed suicide and the red Soviet Victory Banner was raised over the Reichstag in 1945.
For Russians – and for many of the peoples of the former Soviet Union – May 9 is the most sacred date in the calendar, and Putin, angry at what he says are attempts by the West to belittle the Soviet victory, has sought to use memories of WW2 to unite Russian society.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
