Ukrainian drones target Moscow as foreign leaders arrive for Red Square parade

Attacks by Ukrainian long-range drones caused flight disruption at Moscow’s main airports for a third straight day on Wednesday as Russia prepared to receive the Chinese president and other foreign leaders for the annual Victory Day military parade in Red Square.

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot on Wednesday morning canceled more than 100 flights to and from Moscow. More than 140 Aeroflot flights also were delayed because of what officials described as the Ukrainian drone threat and amid heightened security measures around the Victory Day events.

Russian air defenses repelled an attack by nine drones close to the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in the early hours of Wednesday. In the evening, Sobyanin reported thwarting 15 more drones targeting Moscow, as flights were restricted in Moscow's airports once again.

Though Ukrainian drones have targeted Moscow in the past, the sustained attacks appeared designed to disrupt preparations for the 80th anniversary celebrations marking victory over Nazi Germany in World War II — Russia’s biggest secular holiday of the year.

The repeated assaults could unnerve Russians, who have been told by President Vladimir Putin that the more than three-year war with Ukraine is going well, as well as potentially embarrass him in front of his illustrious guests.

Security is expected to be tight for Friday’s centerpiece parade. Foreign dignitaries, including China's President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, arrived on Wednesday.

Russia plans a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire to coincide with the celebrations in Moscow. In March, the United States proposed a 30-day truce in the war, which Ukraine accepted, but the Kremlin has held out for ceasefire terms more to its liking.

Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that the U.S. appreciated Ukraine's willingness for a ceasefire, but the U.S. is trying to move beyond that. “What the Russians have said is ‘a 30-day ceasefire is not in our strategic interests.’ So we’ve tried to move beyond the obsession with the 30-day ceasefire and more on the, what would a long-term settlement look like?” he said.

Vance said that the next steps are to have the Russians and Ukrainians directly negotiating.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last weekend that his country cannot provide security assurances to foreign officials planning to visit the Moscow events. Russia could stage provocations and later attempt to blame Ukraine, he said.

“Our position is very simple: we cannot take responsibility for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,” he said. “They are the ones providing your security, and we will not be offering any guarantees.”

Zelenskyy said that he had instructed Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry to advise foreign delegations against visiting Russia during this period.

Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which border Russia and its Kaliningrad exclave, announced plans to close their airspace to the planes carrying Serbia’s and Slovakia’s leaders to Moscow this week for the celebrations out of safety concerns, officials there said.

“Who could deny that in such a quite active cyber background … that somebody will not use this as a possible provocation to create problems and risks for the flight of these people through the Republic of Lithuania,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in comments to Russian state TV, called the move “a disgrace.”

Flight restrictions across Russia because of Ukrainian drone threats, including temporary closures at airports in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi and elsewhere, affected at least 350 flights and at least 60,000 passengers, the Russian Tour Operators Association said.

Russian public holidays in early May, including the days around Victory Day, is a popular time for many Russians to go on vacation and travel abroad.

Xi’s visit to Russia is his third since the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Xi last visited in Moscow in March 2023 on a trip that offered an important political boost to Putin just days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader on charges of alleged involvement in abductions of thousands of children from Ukraine. He also traveled to the Russian city of Kazan in September 2024 for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies.

The Kremlin announced Tuesday that Putin will travel to China at the end of August and beginning of September.

Since Russia's all-out invasion of its neighbor, Moscow has drawn closer to China as Western countries have sought to isolate Putin diplomatically. Russia has become increasingly dependent economically on China because of Western sanctions.

Meanwhile, Russia launched a ballistic missile and a barrage of drones at Ukraine's capital before dawn on Wednesday, killing at least two people in apartment buildings, Ukrainian officials said. Eight people were also wounded in the attack, including four children, the Kyiv City Military Administration said in a post on Telegram.

Russian planes also dropped two glide bombs on a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, killing two women, regional administration head Vadym Filashkin said.

Russia launched a total of four ballistic missiles and 142 drones at Ukraine overnight, Zelenskyy said.

At least one of the ballistic missiles and 28 drones were recorded in Kyiv's airspace, authorities said. Air defense forces shot down the missile and 11 drones.

A five-story residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district in the center of the capital was hit by drone debris, sparking a fire in several apartments where the victims were found, he said. Four people, including three children, were hospitalized, while others received treatment on site.

In the Sviatoshynskyi district, a fire broke out across multiple upper-floor apartments of a nine-story building after an impact of drone debris, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration. Five people were rescued from the blaze.

Michelle L. Price in Washington, Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

A previous version of this story was corrected to change “Beijing” to “Putin” being isolated diplomatically by the West.

Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM jet fighters of The Russian Knights aerobatic team and Mikoyan MiG-29 jet fighters of The Swifts aerobatic team fly towards the Red Square for the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

Russian army soldiers march to attend a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at the Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

A Russian RS-24 Yars ballistic missile launcher rolls along the Garden Ring after the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Russian battle tanks roll along the Garden Ring after the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM jet fighters of The Russian Knights aerobatic team and Mikoyan MiG-29 jet fighters of The Swifts aerobatic team fly towards the Red Square for the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

Russian BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles roll along the Garden Ring after the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Russian armoured personnel carrier and Msta-S self-propelled howitzers roll along the Garden Ring after the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

A residential building is seen damaged after a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A municipal worker clears the rubble from a balcony of a residential building, damaged after a Russian strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Local residents wait for a tram in front of a residential building, damaged after a Russian strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A municipal worker clear the rubble from a balcony of a residential building damaged after a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A group of Buddhist monks and their rescue dog are striding single file down country roads and highways across the South, captivating Americans nationwide and inspiring droves of locals to greet them along their route.

In their flowing saffron and ocher robes, the men are walking for peace. It's a meditative tradition more common in South Asian countries, and it's resonating now in the U.S., seemingly as a welcome respite from the conflict, trauma and politics dividing the nation.

Their journey began Oct. 26, 2025, at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas, and is scheduled to end in mid-February in Washington, D.C., where they will ask Congress to recognize Buddha’s day of birth and enlightenment as a federal holiday. Beyond promoting peace, their highest priority is connecting with people along the way.

“My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practicing mindfulness and find peace,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s soft-spoken leader who is making the trek barefoot. He teaches about mindfulness, forgiveness and healing at every stop.

Preferring to sleep each night in tents pitched outdoors, the monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies, drawing huge crowds into churchyards, city halls and town squares across six states. Documenting their journey on social media, they — and their dog, Aloka — have racked up millions of followers online. On Saturday, thousands thronged in Columbia, South Carolina, where the monks chanted on the steps of the State House and received a proclamation from the city's mayor, Daniel Rickenmann.

At their stop Thursday in Saluda, South Carolina, Audrie Pearce joined the crowd lining Main Street. She had driven four hours from her village of Little River, and teared up as Pannakara handed her a flower.

“There’s something traumatic and heart-wrenching happening in our country every day,” said Pearce, who describes herself as spiritual, but not religious. “I looked into their eyes and I saw peace. They’re putting their bodies through such physical torture and yet they radiate peace.”

Hailing from Theravada Buddhist monasteries across the globe, the 19 monks began their 2,300 mile (3,700 kilometer) trek at the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth.

Their journey has not been without peril. On Nov. 19, as the monks were walking along U.S. Highway 90 near Dayton, Texas, their escort vehicle was hit by a distracted truck driver, injuring two monks. One of them lost his leg, reducing the group to 18.

This is Pannakara's first trek in the U.S., but he's walked across several South Asian countries, including a 112-day journey across India in 2022 where he first encountered Aloka, an Indian Pariah dog whose name means divine light in Sanskrit.

Then a stray, the dog followed him and other monks from Kolkata in eastern India all the way to the Nepal border. At one point, he fell critically ill and Pannakara scooped him up in his arms and cared for him until he recovered. Now, Aloka inspires him to keep going when he feels like giving up.

“I named him light because I want him to find the light of wisdom,” Pannakara said.

The monk's feet are now heavily bandaged because he's stepped on rocks, nails and glass along the way. His practice of mindfulness keeps him joyful despite the pain from these injuries, he said.

Still, traversing the southeast United States has presented unique challenges, and pounding pavement day after day has been brutal.

“In India, we can do shortcuts through paddy fields and farms, but we can’t do that here because there are a lot of private properties,” Pannakara said. “But what’s made it beautiful is how people have welcomed and hosted us in spite of not knowing who we are and what we believe.”

In Opelika, Alabama, the Rev. Patrick Hitchman-Craig hosted the monks on Christmas night at his United Methodist congregation.

He expected to see a small crowd, but about 1,000 people showed up, creating the feel of a block party. The monks seemed like the Magi, he said, appearing on Christ’s birthday.

“Anyone who is working for peace in the world in a way that is public and sacrificial is standing close to the heart of Jesus, whether or not they share our tradition,” said Hitchman-Craig. “I was blown away by the number of people and the diversity of who showed up.”

After their night on the church lawn, the monks arrived the next afternoon at the Collins Farm in Cusseta, Alabama. Judy Collins Allen, whose father and brother run the farm, said about 200 people came to meet the monks — the biggest gathering she’s ever witnessed there.

“There was a calm, warmth and sense of community among people who had not met each other before and that was so special,” she said.

Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth temple, said the monks, when they arrive in Washington, plan to seek recognition of Vesak, the day which marks the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha, as a national holiday.

“Doing so would acknowledge Vesak as a day of reflection, compassion and unity for all people regardless of faith,” he said.

But Pannakara emphasized that their main goal is to help people achieve peace in their lives. The trek is also a separate endeavor from a $200 million campaign to build towering monuments on the temple’s 14-acre property to house the Buddha’s teachings engraved in stone, according to Dong.

The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection — observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering. Some of the monks, including Pannakara, walk barefoot to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment.

Pannakara has told the gathered crowds that they don't aim to convert people to Buddhism.

Brooke Schedneck, professor of religion at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, said the tradition of a peace walk in Theravada Buddhism began in the 1990s when the Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a Cambodian monk, led marches across war-torn areas riddled with landmines to foster national healing after civil war and genocide in his country.

“These walks really inspire people and inspire faith,” Schedneck said. “The core intention is to have others watch and be inspired, not so much through words, but through how they are willing to make this sacrifice by walking and being visible.”

On Thursday, Becki Gable drove nearly 400 miles (about 640 kilometers) from Cullman, Alabama, to catch up with them in Saluda. Raised Methodist, Gable said she wanted some release from the pain of losing her daughter and parents.

“I just felt in my heart that this would help me have peace,” she said. “Maybe I could move a little bit forward in my life.”

Gable says she has already taken one of Pannakara’s teachings to heart. She’s promised herself that each morning, as soon as she awakes, she’d take a piece of paper and write five words on it, just as the monk prescribed.

“Today is my peaceful day.”

Freelance photojournalist Allison Joyce contributed to this report.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," get lunch Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Aloka rests with Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

A sign is seen greeting the Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Supporters pray with Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Supporters watch Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

A Buddhist monk ties a prayer bracelet around the wrist of Josey Lee, 2-months-old, during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Bhikkhu Pannakara, a spiritual leader, speaks to supporters during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Buddhist monks participate in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Buddhist monks participate in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Bhikkhu Pannakara leads other buddhist monks in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Audrie Pearce greets Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Bhikkhu Pannakara, a spiritual leader, speaks to supporters during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," arrive in Saluda, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)

Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," are seen with their dog, Aloka, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)