Ukrainian drone attacks disrupted Moscow’s airspace overnight, forcing a near seven-hour shutdown and causing over 370 flight delays and cancellations across the city’s airports, according to social media reports and official tallies.
Sheremetyevo, the hardest hit, recorded 135 cancellations, while Vnukovo and Domodedovo reported 39 and eight, respectively. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin claimed 134 drones were downed before reaching the city. Some inbound flights were diverted to other Russian cities, including Nizhny Novgorod and St. Petersburg, with passengers later transported to Moscow by bus.
The disruptions extended beyond Russia’s borders, as airlines and airports in Turkey, Egypt, and other origin countries faced cascading delays. The incident follows a pattern of increasing airspace closures in Moscow this month, with airports logging 101 hours of shutdowns in the first 14 days of October—more than double the 46 hours recorded in all of September.
A *The Atlantic* report on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources, stated that Ukraine’s campaign to paralyze Russian airport operations was “only beginning” .
