A Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow has forced Russia to close two major airports around the capital.
Russian air defence systems were battling overnight to repel repeated attacks targeting Moscow that led to the closure of Domodedovo airport and Zhukovsky airport, Russia authorities said on Monday.
Russian downed 28 drones within a five hour span from 10pm on Sunday Moscow time, the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram.
The airports, two of Moscow’s four international hubs, were closed to ensure air safety, Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya said.
Information about potential damage has yet to emerge.
Russia rarely discloses the full scale of damages inflicted by Ukrainian strikes inside its territory unless civilian objects are involved.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Kyiv has said that its attacks aim at destroying Russia’s infrastructure key to conducting Moscow’s war.
Ukraine has targeted the Russian capital with increasing frequency, last month unleashing 140 drones, killing a woman, grounding flights and setting off air defences across the country.
The latest attacks come days after Ukraine pounded one of Vladimir Putin’s key oil refineries with drones following Donald Trump’s announcement of crippling sanctions on Moscow’s oil giants.
The strike set the massive Ryazan refinery ablaze on Wednesday night, sending flames above one of the country’s largest industrial plants.
‘Fourteen UAVs were destroyed by air defence systems over Ryazan Oblast,’ Pavel Malkov, the governor of Ryazan Oblast, is reported to have said on Telegram.
The falling debris caused a fire on the territory of one company… Emergency services are working at the site.’
He also said that there was a ban on posting videos and pictures from the scene of the blast.
The attack occurred within hours of Washington’s announcement that it was targeting Rosneft and Lukoil with sweeping sanctions aimed at choking the Kremlin’s wartime cash flow.
Rosneft is headed by Igor Sechin, who has been a staunch ally of Putin.
The measures, unveiled on Wednesday, freeze the assets of Russia’s top two oil producers and bar US entities from conducting business with them.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the sanctions were a direct response to Putin’s refusal to end his invasion of Ukraine.
Bessent said: ‘As long as Putin refuses to end this senseless war, we are imposing sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies that finance the Kremlin’s war machine. We call on allies to join these sanctions.’
Together, the sanctions and refinery strike mark one of the most damaging blows yet to Russia’s energy lifeline.
On Sunday, three people were killed and at least 23 injured in Russian attacks on Kyiv, according to the city’s mayor.
Two high-rise residential buildings were hit in the strikes, with six children were among the injured.
Ukraine claims 1,200 Russian drones have been launched in the past week as Putin intensifies attacks on civilian targets and energy infrastructure ahead of winter.
- Will Moscow’s skies continue to erupt as Ukraine’s relentless drone attacks ravage the Russian capital necessitating emergency airport closures?
- How are Ukrainian drone attacks delivering catastrophic blows to Russia’s crucial fuel infrastructure?
- Why were defiant Ukrainian drones striking terror into the heart of the Russian capital’s airspace?
- Is Ukraine escalating war tensions with an explosive barrage of drone strikes hitting key Russian cities and military targets?
- How did Ukrainian drone attacks on strategic Russian targets inflame tensions and spark fuel shortages across Putin’s domain?
