Moscow’s largest airport, Sheremetyevo, resumed operations on Friday after it was forced to briefly suspend its work and ask passengers to move to safe locations due to a Ukrainian drone threat.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a statement on Telegram that air defense forces had shot down 21 Ukrainian drones that were headed to the Russian capital over a two-hour period.
Sheremetyevo said earlier on Friday that it had asked passengers to seek shelter and had evacuated certain areas and got passengers to disembark aircraft during an alert.
Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation watchdog, said earlier on Friday that three of Moscow’s four airports had temporarily suspended flight operations, something they do when there is Ukrainian drone activity.
Earlier, the state-run TASS news agency reported that all four airports serving the capital had halted arrivals and departures, citing aviation authorities and the Transport Ministry.
Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports were also accepting arrivals and departures in coordination with the relevant authorities following changes to temporary airspace restrictions, Rosaviatsia said. It warned that flight schedules could still change.
At one point during the disruption, 69 flights across Moscow’s airports were listed as canceled and another 164 as delayed, according to the flight-tracking website Airports.ru.
St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport received 25 flights diverted from Moscow, the local news outlet Fontanka reported. Passengers were either kept on board or allowed into the terminal, depending on their airline’s decision.
The Telegram news channel Shot reported that an Emirates Airbus A380 flying from Dubai to Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport was circling over the Penza region as it awaited clearance to land.
Residents and local monitoring channels reported explosions and air defense activity across Moscow’s suburbs, including Khimki, Dolgoprudny, Balashikha and Podolsk. There were also reports of explosions near the Sokol metro station and in the Zyuzino district within the capital.
Photos circulating on social media appeared to show drone debris on a runway at Sheremetyevo.
Authorities also evacuated the IQ Quarter tower in the Moscow City business district, which houses the Digital Development, Economic Development and Industry and Trade ministries, the news outlets MSK1 and Ostorozhno Novosti reported, citing eyewitnesses.
The attack followed several days of major disruptions to air travel in the capital. More than 500 flights were canceled at Moscow’s airports between Oct. 16 and 18, according to Airports.ru data.
Ukrainian drone attacks have repeatedly prompted temporary airport closures in Russia, with aviation authorities restricting flights while air defenses respond.
Reuters contributed reporting.
