Ukrainian drone attack disrupts all four Moscow airports overnight
Ukrainian drones forced all four of Moscow's main airports to suspend operations overnight, disrupting air traffic in the Russian capital and leading to widespread flight cancellations. Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Zhukovsky and Sheremetyevo were each closed for up to seven hours, according to the supplied report. More than 160 flights were cancelled as the airports dealt with the disruption.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 94 drones heading towards the capital had been shot down. The report also said Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg was twice forced to halt operations during the same night. In the Leningrad region, governor Alexander Drozdenko said four drones were destroyed, although the report noted that the claims could not be independently verified.
The closures add to a pattern of repeated drone-related disruption to Moscow's aviation system in early October. According to the supplied report, Moscow's four airports were closed for a total of 101 hours in the first 14 days of October, compared with 46 hours across the whole of September. That suggests the capital's air transport network has faced sustained pressure from drone activity, with knock-on effects for passengers and airline operations.
The incident matters because it shows how the war has increasingly affected civilian infrastructure far from the front line. The supplied report says Ukraine has targeted Russian military, energy and commercial facilities as part of its wider effort to weaken Moscow's war effort. It also notes that Ukrainian skies and Russian skies have both become more contested, with the aviation sector now exposed to repeated interruptions and security alerts.
Advert for a company owned by the publisher of 360LiveNews.
The report places the latest disruption in the context of a larger drone campaign against the Russian capital. It says Ukraine carried out one of its largest drone operations against Moscow on Tuesday, deploying close to 500 drones. It also refers to earlier reports that the presidential aircraft carrying Vladimir Putin was unable to land in Moscow on 9 October because of a drone attack and was diverted to St Petersburg, although the plane was not reported to have been a direct target.
What remains unclear is the full scale of damage caused by the overnight attack and how long the aviation disruption may continue. The report says Russian officials have neither confirmed nor denied some of the earlier claims, and Ukraine has not officially confirmed any organised campaign to shut down Russian airports. Further official statements would be needed to verify the competing accounts and to establish whether the pattern of airport closures will continue.
