On the night of December 11, Moscow was targeted by a massive drone attack. As a result of the incident, approximately 200 flights were cancelled or delayed at the airports in the Russian capital. Affected passengers expressed dissatisfaction with the waiting conditions, some being forced to sit on benches, cardboard boxes, or makeshift mattresses.
Sobyanin stated that emergency services are intervening at the scene of the incidents. He did not provide details about possible victims or damage on the ground, notes The Moscow Times. During the attack, Rosaviatsiya, the Federal Air Transport Agency, imposed restrictions on landings and takeoffs at all Moscow airports. The measure caused major delays in air traffic.
At Zhukovsky Airport, four flights to Fergana, Dushanbe, and Urgench were delayed, and a flight to Osh was cancelled. The disruptions affected thousands of passengers. Due to prolonged delays, passengers at Moscow airports were forced to sleep on camping mattresses, cardboard boxes, and benches, reports Shot.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that, in total, 287 fixed-wing Ukrainian drones were “intercepted and destroyed” over Russian territory on the same night. Most – 118 – were shot down in the Bryansk region. Forty drones were shot down over the Moscow region, and the same number in the Kaluga region. Attacks were also reported in Tula, Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Lipetsk, Smolensk, Kursk, Oryol, Voronezh, and Ryazan.
Moscow had previously been subjected to a massive drone attack on September 23, when, within a 16-hour period, 41 drones were destroyed near the capital. At that time, airport operations were temporarily suspended, and over 200 flights were cancelled or delayed.