Russian air defence systems shot down a Ukrainian military drone on Friday before it crashed into a building in Moscow. According to Russian officials, the disruption has affected all civilian airports in Moscow.
Drone Attack on Moscow
As per a message shared on Telegram by Moscow's Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, an unmanned aerial vehicle was intercepted by air defense systems on early Friday morning. Debris from the drone's destruction landed on buildings within the Expo Centre complex in the city. Sobyanin mentioned that emergency teams were present at the location, but initial reports suggested that no injuries had occurred.
Sobyanin claimed that "the wreckage of the UAV fell in the area of the Expo Center and did not cause significant damage to the building.”
The Expo Centre, a vast event area used for major exhibits and conferences, is less than 5 kilometres from the Kremlin. A video released by Russian news outlets showed thick smoke rising next to city buildings.
❗️ Another drone attack on Moscow#Moscow residents are massively reporting the sounds of an explosion. Moscow Mayor Sobyanin said that a drone was shot down by air defense forces while attempting to fly over Moscow. The wreckage of the UAV fell in the area of Expocenter.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 18, 2023
Now… pic.twitter.com/HNlgPTsmGQ
According to the Russian defence ministry, Ukraine carried out the drone attack “using an unmanned aerial vehicle against objects located in Moscow and the Moscow region.”
“The UAV, after being exposed to air defence weapons, changed its flight path and fell on a nonresidential building in the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment area of Moscow,” the ministry stated on Telegram.
Emergency services informed news agency TASS that one of the walls of the Expo Center pavilion had partially collapsed, saying, “the area of the collapse is about 30 square metres.”
Air traffic was temporarily suspended at four main airports in the city, including Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky; however, it was eventually resumed. According to Russia’s air transport agency, seven flights were rerouted to alternate airports.
All Moscow airports were closed last night due to the drone attack. Flight limitations were in action in Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovskiy airports. One of the planes scheduled to land in Moscow, had to reroute to Minsk - Russian media. pic.twitter.com/Hx3yKyjpyf
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 18, 2023
Intensifying Ukrainian Drone Attacks on Russia
In recent weeks, Moscow and its surrounding areas have been the target of many drone attacks, including two that were thwarted above Moscow’s financial sector, inflicting minimal damage to the façade of high-rise buildings. Drones likely launched by the Ukrainian military were shot down near the Kremlin in May.
Russia’s defence ministry also stated that a Ukrainian sea drone strike on its vessels in the Black Sea was thwarted earlier this week.
According to TASS, quoting the defence ministry, Ukrainian troops tried to attack Russian Black Sea Fleet ships using an “unmanned sea boat” when the vessels were operating in the southwestern region of the Black Sea, 237 kilometres (147 miles) southwest of Sevastopol.
The Defence Ministry ministry noted that the Pytlivyi frigate and the Vasily Bykov patrol ship destroyed the sea-borne drone before it could reach its target. Russian warships also thwarted a Ukrainian sea drone strike on Russia’s Novorossiysk naval station on August 4, as reported by the news agency.