Ukrainian Drones Hit Moscow's Main Domodedovo Airport

The damage inflicted is less important than sending Russian citizens the message that they are no longer safe going about their daily business because of Putin's Ukraine invasion. JL 

Ellie Cook reports in Newsweek:

Ukrainian explosive drones hit the roof of Moscow's Domodedovo airport, after a video shows a flash and audible buzzing sound which can be distinctive of drone strikes. In another clip, a loud explosion can be heard as pedestrians watch and move to take cover. Another video circulating online shows a cavernous room filling up with smoke. Flight restrictions on takeoffs and landings were placed on several of the city's airports.

Ukrainian explosive drones targeted the Russian capital city overnight, according to local authorities, as unverified footage appears to show uncrewed vehicles approaching one of Moscow's main airports.

A brief video posted to social media on Sunday shows a flash as an unidentified object hits the roof of what appears to be part of Moscow's Domodedovo airport, after an audible buzzing sound which can be distinctive of drone strikes.

 

In another clip, a loud explosion can be heard as pedestrians watch and move to take cover. Another video circulating online appears to show a cavernous room filling up with smoke.

Russian Telegram channel Mash posted a video it said showed the "moment of destruction of a Ukrainian drone near the capital's Domodedovo airport," adding that debris had fallen onto a nearby warehouse.

 

Ukraine has previously launched a series of drone attacks on the Russian capital, and has periodically used uncrewed aerial vehicles to target Moscow, along with other regions of internationally recognized Russian territory.

Kyiv damaged a series of buildings in Moscow in the summer of 2023, and has upped its drone strikes on wider Russian territory in recent weeks. Drone assaults have temporarily disrupted activity at Moscow's major airports, including Domodedovo.

 

Russian authorities said the country's air defenses had destroyed a slew of Ukrainian drones over the capital, including over Domodedovo, but did not specify the airport as a target.

Flight restrictions were placed on several of the city's airports, Russian independent news outlet Astra reported, citing the country's Federal Air Transport Agency. Russia's state-backed news agency RIA Novosti then reported that the controls on aircraft taking off and landing at the airports had been lifted.

Ukraine is contending with Russia's almost constant drone and missile strikes on its key infrastructure. Kyiv's air force said on Sunday it had shot down 14 kamikaze drones overnight.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said early on Sunday that air defenses in the Domodedovo area of the capital had "repelled an attack by two drones flying towards Moscow." Sobyanin later said another three drones, including one over Domodedovo, were shot down by air defenses.

Debris fell, but there were no casualties nor damage,

 

Russia's Defense Ministry said in a separate statement on Sunday that its air defenses had shot down 35 Ukrainian uncrewed vehicles across its territory overnight, including four over the Moscow region. In a following update, the Russian government said it had destroyed another airborne drone over the capital at around 10:15 a.m. Moscow time (3:15 a.m. ET)