War Ukraine – Russia, last minute | Moscow closes Moscow's Vnukovo airport after Ukrainian drone attack on financial district
On the 522nd day of the war in Ukraine, the Russian authorities preventively closed the Moscow Vnukovo airport and diverted flights to the Domodedovo and Sheremetievo airports, also in Moscow.
The closure of the third largest airport in the city was the response to the Ukrainian attack with drones that hit the facades of two office towers in the Russian capital, in the financial and business district known as Moskva-Citi, several kilometers from the Kremlin.. “No one was injured,” according to a first assessment by Sergei Sobyanin, mayor of Moscow.
The fact that hostile drones have begun to reach the heart of the Russian capital in recent months, even if they do not inflict serious damage, is embarrassing for the authorities, who have told the public that Russia is in full control of what they call his “special military operation” against Ukraine.
At the same time, Russian anti-aircraft artillery and electronic warfare shot down or disabled 25 Ukrainian drones targeting the Crimean peninsula, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
“On the morning of July 30, an attempted terrorist attack by the Kiev regime using unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in the city of Moscow was thwarted,” the Defense Ministry said in its statement, Reuters reports.
In his information, he said that two drones had crashed in the Moskva-Citi district after being shot down with radio-electronic equipment.. Anti-aircraft defenses had shot down one more in the air over the Odintsovo area in the Moscow region, it said.
Russia's Defense Ministry said it had shot down three Ukrainian drones early Sunday morning that had been trying to carry out what it called “a terrorist attack” against Moscow.
No one was injured and only minor damage was done to the façade of two office buildings in the Moskva-Citi business district, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
The area, several kilometers from the Kremlin, is known for its modern skyscrapers.
The fact that hostile drones have begun to reach the heart of the Russian capital in recent months, even if they do not inflict serious damage, is embarrassing for the authorities, who have told the public that Russia is in full control of what they call his “special military operation” against Ukraine.
“There were no casualties or injuries,” Sobyanin said in a brief statement on the incident, Reuters reports.
Investigators examine the damage to a skyscraper in Moscow.
Damaged skyscraper in Moscow
A firefighter walks through broken glass and paper at the Moscow International Business Center.
Russian anti-aircraft forces shot down 25 Ukrainian drones trying to attack targets in the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, the Russian Defense Ministry reported today.
“Tonight an attempt by the Kiev regime to perpetrate a terrorist attack with 25 fixed-wing drones against targets in the territory of the Crimean peninsula was frustrated,” Defense said in a statement, reported Efe.
The military report specified that 16 drones were destroyed by anti-aircraft artillery fire and the other nine fell into the sea inhibited with electronic warfare means.
“The frustrated terrorist attack did not cause victims or destruction,” said Defense.
Shortly before, the Russian authorities denounced a Ukrainian drone attack against two buildings in Moscow.
“Ukrainian drones attacked us tonight. The facades of two city office towers were slightly damaged. There are no victims or injuries,” wrote the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, on his Telegram account.
The affected buildings are two towers of the group of skyscrapers in the financial and business center known as the City of Moscow.
The authorities preemptively ordered the closure of the Moscow Vnukovo airport and the diversion of flights going there to the Domodedovo and Sheremetievo airports, also in Moscow.
Attacks on and around Moscow, located almost 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, had been fairly rare since the start of the conflict in February 2022, until several drone raids took place in 2023.
The one registered this Sunday is the latest in a series of drone attacks, including one against the Kremlin and Russian cities near the border with Ukraine, which Moscow attributes to Kiev, reviews Afp.
In early July, Russia claimed to have shot down five Ukrainian drones that had already disrupted operations at Vnukovo airport.
These attacks come a few weeks after the launch of the Ukrainian counter-offensive aimed at recovering the territories occupied by Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed the attacks “being impossible without the help given to the Kiev regime by the United States and its NATO allies.”