23 Drones over Moscow: Four Airports Closed Simultaneously

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents 23 Drones over Moscow: Four Airports Closed Simultaneously.

TVS News KI editorially supervised presents 23 Drones over Moscow: Four Airports Closed Simultaneously.

All four of Moscow's airports stood still on Sunday evening — Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky. The trigger was a swarm of Ukrainian drones heading toward the capital, according to Russian reports. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses had shot down at least 23 drones.

The Russian state agency Tass reported that takeoffs and landings had been suspended for a short time at all four airports. For travelers — whether stranded in Moscow or transiting through one of the airports — that meant canceled flights, missed connections, and waiting for the next departure.

Four Airports, One Shutdown

Russia operates four major civilian airports in and around the capital: Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky. When all four simultaneously halt operations, civilian airspace over the Russian capital is effectively unreachable. How long Sunday evening's shutdown actually lasted is not clear from the available reports. Tass and the other agencies consistently speak of "temporary" and "for a short time."

23 Drones in One Night — Sobyanin Names the Figure

23 drones shot down in a single night — that is a striking swarm even compared to earlier waves of attacks on Moscow's airspace. Who exactly is behind the drones is not called into question in the available reports: Russia speaks of Ukrainian drones, backed by the usual designation from the relevant authorities. The Ukrainian side has not officially commented on this specific attack so far — in line with the usual pattern, in which the Ukrainian leadership rarely directly confirms or denies ongoing operations.

Not an Isolated Case — Drones Are Flying Deeper into Russia

What happened over Moscow on Sunday evening fits a pattern that has been observable for months: Ukrainian drones are increasingly targeting sites deep inside the Russian rear — military bases, energy facilities, industrial sites, and now the capital itself. As Der Spiegel writes:

Ukraine is increasingly launching drone strikes deep into Russian territory. The goal: the Kremlin's war machine.

The fact that the drones have now reached airspace over Moscow itself carries its own signaling effect — for the population of the Russian capital, the war is visibly drawing closer, not just at the front.