Moscow airport flights disrupted by Ukrainian drone strike, says Russia
The Russian military said it thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow that prompted authorities to briefly close one of the city’s main airports.
The Russian defence ministry claimed Ukraine had attacked the capital with at least five drones on Tuesday. It said four drones were shot down by city air defences while a fifth jammed and crashed into the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region.
One of the drones was shot down near the town of Kubinka, 40 miles west of Moscow where a Russian air base is located, according to the state-run Ria Novosti news agency. Two drones were reportedly intercepted near a village 19 miles south-west of the Kremlin, while another was detected in the neighbouring Kaluga region.
Landing and take-off at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport were restricted for several hours early on Tuesday before normal operations resumed after 8am local time. Flights from Russia, Turkey, the UAE and Egypt were diverted.
Russia’s foreign and defence ministries denounced the attack as terrorism.
“The Kyiv regime’s attempt to attack an area where civilian infrastructure is located, including the airport, which incidentally also receives foreign flights, is yet another act of terrorism,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
“The international community should realise that the United States, Britain, France – permanent members of the UN Security Council – are financing a terrorist regime.”
Ukrainian authorities, which generally avoid comments on attacks inside Russia, did not claim responsibility for the alleged attack.
Drone attacks inside Russia have increased over recent months with assaults on the Kremlin in May and on Russian oil infrastructure last month.
“At this moment, the attacks have been repelled by air defence forces,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, adding that there were no reports of injuries.
