Drone attacks halt traffic at airports across Russia

MOSCOW: More than a dozen Russian airports had to restrict their traffic due to drone attacks overnight to Tuesday, Russian authorities reported, including in Moscow days before a planned military parade.

A total of 19 drones were downed around the Russian capital, where several world leaders are expected to attend a parade and address by President Vladimir Putin on May 9 as part of World War II anniversary celebrations, authorities said.

Flight restrictions were introduced at four airports in Moscow, Russian news agencies reported, citing the Federal Air Transport Agency — though traffic at the city’s main Sheremetyevo airport remained largely unaffected.

Airports were also affected in other cities including Volgograd and Nizhny Novgorod.

In a post on Telegram, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said debris had fallen on a major avenue in southern Moscow but there was “no damage or casualties” in the city.

Russian media broadcast images of a cracked supermarket window and a blackened residential building facade.

The governors of Voronezh and Penza reported that 18 and 10 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted in their regions respectively, without causing any casualties.

In the Kursk region, acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said an attack was carried out on an electrical substation in the city of Rylsk late Monday, injuring two teenagers.

“As a result of the attack on the city, two transformers were damaged, and the power was completely cut off,” he said on Telegram.

Russian authorities earlier on Monday said defence forces had repelled four drones heading towards Moscow, where the conflict in Ukraine often feels distant.

In Ukraine, a Russian drone strike killed one person in the Odesa region, Governor Oleg Kiper said Monday night.