Ukrainian drone attacks halt flights at Moscow airports
by AFP Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) May 22, 2025

Air traffic around Moscow was disrupted on Thursday as the Russian capital came under attack from Ukrainian drones, with the defence ministry saying 35 targeting the city had been downed overnight.

"Air defence systems destroyed and intercepted 105 Ukrainian drones," of which 35 were heading towards Moscow, the ministry said in a statement.

Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Telegram that "emergency services specialists are working at the site of the fallen debris".

Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 128 drones at Ukraine overnight Thursday, of which 112 were shot down, suppressed electronically or lost.

The two countries have deployed drones against one another on a near daily basis since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine more than three years ago, but Moscow has rarely been targeted.

On Thursday, flights were halted at multiple Moscow airports, Russia's aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said.

Planes were temporarily grounded at the city's main Sheremetyevo airport as well as at Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky, Rosaviatsiya said on Telegram.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rebuffed calls by Kyiv and the West for an unconditional and immediate ceasefire.

Russia now controls around a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula which it annexed in 2014.

The fighting has killed tens of thousands, forced millions to flee their homes and destroyed cities and villages across the east and south of Ukraine.

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