DOZENS OF FLIGHTS DISRUPTED AT MOSCOW AIRPORTS AFTER UKRAINE DRONE ATTACK

  Ukrainian drone smashed into a building in central Moscow, disrupting air traffic at all the civilian airports. August 18, 2023.

Mon 21 August 2023:

Russia says it foiled attacks by two Ukrainian drones in the Moscow region, but nearly 50 plane flights in and out of the capital were disrupted.

Arrivals and departures from Moscow’s four main airports – Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky – were restricted, disrupting 45 passenger planes and two cargo planes, Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said.

An attempt by Kyiv to carry out an “attack with an aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicle was foiled” around 6:50 am (0350 GMT), the defence ministry said in a statement.

The drone was “suppressed by means of electronic warfare” and crashed in Pokrovskoye village in the Odintsovo district southwest of the capital, it said, adding there were no casualties.

Another “attack by the Kyiv regime” was thwarted in Istra, northwest of Moscow, it said.

It happened at 8:16 am.

The RIA Novosti news agency said flights from two international airports, Vnukovo and Domodedovo, were temporarily disrupted and diverted elsewhere.

In recent weeks, two drone attacks were repelled over Moscow’s financial district, each causing minor damage to the facades of high-rise buildings. In May, drones were shot down near the Kremlin.

Russian officials have repeatedly cautioned that military drones flying over Moscow – which along with its surrounding region has a population of nearly 22 million people – could cause a major disaster.

Russia says Ukrainian drones attack four regions