Moscow Temporarily Closed Airports After Ukraine Drone Attacks

Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport

A sustained Ukrainian drone attack on Russia caused Moscow's major airports to be temporarily closed and saw at least 140 flights cancelled, officials said.

More than 230 Ukrainian drones were downed over Russia since Saturday morning - including 27 over the capital - according to the Russian defence ministry.

According to Russia's aviation watchdog, the four major airports serving the capital were disrupted and more than 130 flights also had to be redirected. All have since resumed normal operations.

Meanwhile, at least three people were killed during Russian air strikes on Ukraine overnight, according to regional officials.

Russia's Association of Tour Operators (Ator) said on Sunday that Moscow airports were closed 10 times in 24 hours due to the strikes.

The Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, was also affected. Russia's defence ministry said it had intercepted 45 drones since Saturday morning, resulting in Kaluga International Airport also being temporarily closed.

Russia's defence ministry said drones were also shot down over regions near the Ukrainian border including Rostov and Bryansk, as well as over the Black Sea. No fatalities were reported.

This is not the first time that Ukrainian drone attacks have caused travel disruption in Russia. In May, at least 60,000 passengers were stranded at airports across the country after Kyiv launched more than 500 drones in a 24-hour period, according to Russia's defence ministry.

Regional officials in Ukraine said two people died after Russian air strikes in different parts of Donetsk, while a 78-year-old woman died after residential buildings burned down in Sumy.

Ukraine's air force said it shot down 18 out of 57 Russian drones overnight into Sunday, while a further seven drones were lost after their radars were jammed.

As well as Sumy and Donetsk, other front-line areas of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk were attacked, as was Zaporizhzhia.

The latest attacks come as the Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to move towards a peace settlement with Ukraine but that Moscow's priority was to "achieve our goals".

"President Putin has repeatedly spoken of his desire to bring the Ukrainian settlement to a peaceful conclusion as soon as possible. This is a long process, it requires effort, and it is not easy," he said in a televised interview.

It has been nearly three-and-a-half years since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a new round of talks with Moscow, aimed at restarting negotiations that halted last month.

Previous attempts by Russia and Ukraine to negotiate an end to the fighting have failed to achieve a ceasefire, but have resulted in prisoner swaps.

Zelensky also repeated his readiness to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin face-to-face, saying: "A meeting at the leadership level is needed to truly ensure peace."

Ukraine was this week given a boost when US President Donald Trump - who has in the past often expressed support and admiration for Russia's leader - announced that the US would send "top-of-the-line weapons" to Ukraine via Nato countries.

Trump also threatened Russia with severe tariffs if a deal to end the war is not reached within 50 days, and later told the BBC that he was "disappointed" with Putin but "not done".

Reacting to this in Sunday's interview, Peskov said: "Everyone has grown accustomed to his [Trump's] rather harsh and straightforward rhetoric.

"At the same time, he reaffirms his intention to continue doing everything possible to facilitate a peaceful settlement."

 

 

From BBC News.com