Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault

A view taken on September 7, 2023 shows Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

MOSCOW — Russian authorities said they had battled a major Ukrainian drone attack late Tuesday and early Wednesday, with at least two Moscow airports forced to suspend flights.

The defense ministry said in a Telegram post that 112 Ukrainian drones had been “destroyed and intercepted” in six different regions in the three hours up to midnight.

Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram that 12 drones heading for the Russian capital had been shot down.

READ: Ukraine drone attacks briefly shut down Moscow’s international airports

Some 59 had targeted the southwestern region of Bryansk, the defense ministry said. Others were fired at the Kursk, Belgorod, Tula, Oryol and Kaluga regions.

The attack comes after Ukraine said it had faced the most intense three days of Russian drone attacks since Moscow launched its military offensive in 2022.

The Russian military announces Ukrainian drone attacks most days but rarely of this intensity over such a short period of time.

Moscow, several hundred kilometers from the frontier, is not often the target of such a big attack.

But authorities have been increasingly forced to divert flights from Moscow airports in recent weeks.

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This time, the Federal Aviation Transport Agency said restrictions had been introduced at Moscow’s Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports.

Ukraine said that Russia launched more than 900 drones over three days up to Monday. Thirteen civilians were killed in attacks on Sunday, including three children.

Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that it had responded to Ukraine’s “provocation” by launching drone and missile attacks on Russian civilian installations.