60,000 air passengers stranded over solid Ukrainian drone attack

At least 60,000 passengers are stranded at airports in Russia because of a massive Ukrainian drone attack, local officials say.

The Russian Association of Tour Operators (Ator) says that since Tuesday evening 350 flights have been hit in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi and various other cities.

The Russian Ministry of Defense says that 524 Ukrainian drones have been destroyed in the last 24 hours – a record number if confirmed. No victims were reported.

Ukraine says that an overnight stay of Russian drone and rocket attack has killed two people in Kiev dead.

The barrage of strikes came as a self-proclaimed Russian three-day ceasefire would start on Wednesday evening, prior to a victory parade of the Second World War in Moscow in Moscow on 9 May.

KYIV has repeatedly rejected the file idea as “theatrical game” and repeated his call for an unconditional cease-fire of 30 days, which is also supported by the allies of Ukraine in Europe and the US.

Russia has issued a series of heavy pre -conditions for every possible scheme – described a movement by Ukraine and many European politicians as an attempt to extend the fights and ultimately forcing Kyiv.

On Wednesday, the American vice-president JD Vance said “We think they (Russians) ask too many”, in a clear pavement of his attitude towards Moscow.

“It is very important for the Russians and the Ukrainians to talk to each other,” Vance added.

He also took a much less strict tone against Europe than he said in recent months: “I still think very much that the US and Europe are in the same team”.

Three airports that serve Moscow – Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo – members according to the Russian Tour Operators Association, which added that 110 flights were canceled in the capital.

Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin said that 19 drones had been shot near the city since Tuesday evening.

In St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia, 55 flights were canceled or delayed.

At Pulkovo airport of the city, the images emerged on arrival from a queue of aircraft recorded on the runway. Passengers reportedly waited hours to leave.

Airports on various other cities, including Sochi, Kazan, Kirov and Nizhnekamsk, also reported the disruption of the flight.

Russia’s air traffic problems came when Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow arrived for Friday’s military parade in the red square to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.

According to local reports, a plane with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to Moscow had to make a short emergency stop in Baku in Azerbaijan, because of drone attacks in Russia.

Vucic later resumed his flight and eventually landed in Moscow. Two Baltic Republics, Lithuania and Latvia, reportedly refused to give him permission to cross their airspace.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was thought as the only leader of the European Union who was planning to attend, complained that the Estonia government had refused to allow him to fly over her airspace, which he said was extremely disruptive for his schedule.

The government in Tallinn said it was not going to support the parade of Moscow and had stressed EU colleagues that participation in the Russian “propaganda events should be excluded”.

Russia says that 27 world leaders travel to Moscow. Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have already arrived.

A three -day The fire fire proposed by Putin last month Had to start at midnight Moscow -time on Wednesday (21:00 GMT), coinciding with the victory commemoration of the Second World War throughout Russia.

Putin launched a complete invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and Moscow currently checks approximately 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Southern Crim in 2014 peninsula.

The American vice-president JD Vance told an audience in Washington on Wednesday that he was not yet pessimistic that the Russians did not want to put an end to the war.

“We want both the Russians and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines to sit down and talk to each other,” he said.

President Donald Trump’s government is accused of trying Ukraine to make painful concessions in an attempt to reach a ceasefire -while putting much less pressure on Moscow.

In the meantime, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zenskyy called for a “significant increase in pressure on Russia”, after an attack on Kiev had killed a woman and her son.

Emergency services were deployed in Ukraine, also in the regions of Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Kherson and Dnipro.

Earlier this month, Zensky warned that Ukraine could not guarantee safety of anyone who drove to Moscow for the parade.

“We cannot be held responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,” he said.

He indicated that the Kremlin could organize provocations during the Victory Day commemorations in Russia to discredit Ukraine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has warned about the participation of any foreign troops, and calls it “unacceptable” and helping Moscow to “launch his war crimes”.

On the eve of President Xi’s arrival in Moscow, the Chinese leader greeted the “resilient” relationship between China and Russia.

China has sent 102 soldiers – the largest foreign military quota among the 13 participating countries – to participate in the annual parade of May 9 of Friday.

Victory Day celebrates the surrender of Nazi Germany from 1945 to the Soviet Union during the Second World War, reminded as “The Great Patriotic War” in Russia.

It is the most important holiday of Russia and Putin repeatedly tried to draw parallels with the entire war he launched against Democratic Ukraine.

His story was rejected by Kyiv and Europe. “These people are not liberators of Europe, they are residents and war criminals,” said the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

Europe and Ukraine Mark Mark Victory in Europe Day on Thursday.