Flights at Moscow’s airports were suspended on Friday, October 23, as Ukrainian drones approached the Russian capital, forcing evacuations and disrupting air travel. Sheremetyevo, Moscow’s largest airport, was among those affected, according to the Moscow Times.
Sheremetyevo briefly suspended operations and asked passengers to move to safe locations because of the drone threat, the Moscow Times reported. Operations later resumed on Friday. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defense forces shot down 21 Ukrainian drones headed to the capital over a two-hour period, according to the same outlet.
Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation watchdog, named Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky as airports with restrictions. According to a forum post on r/worldnews, the restrictions took effect at 2:05 p.m. Moscow time. That post does not name an original outlet, and only a short excerpt was available, so its details need checking against a primary source.
At one point during the disruption, 69 flights across Moscow’s airports were listed as canceled and 164 as delayed, according to Airports.ru, as cited by the Moscow Times. St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport received 25 flights diverted from Moscow, according to the local outlet Fontanka.
Authorities evacuated the IQ Quarter tower in Moscow City, which houses the Digital Development, Economic Development and Industry and Trade ministries. The evacuation was reported by the Moscow Times, citing eyewitnesses reported by MSK1 and Ostorozhno Novosti.
The disruption followed several days of major air travel problems. According to Airports.ru data, more than 500 flights were canceled at Moscow’s airports between October 16 and 18. DW reported, citing Agentstvo, that Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Zhukovsky and Vnukovo had shut down almost daily in October, with some closures lasting up to nine hours.
In early September, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would seek to cut off airspace around Moscow and other Russian destinations, warning that Russian airspace would become completely unsafe.
The sources disagree on how many Moscow airports suspended flights. The Moscow Times, citing Rosaviatsia, reported that three of the four airports suspended operations, while Vnukovo and Domodedovo accepted flights in coordination with authorities. TASS reported that all four airports halted arrivals and departures. The r/worldnews post said all four airports were still closed as of 3:55 p.m.
Rosaviatsia warned that flight schedules could still change. It did not say how long the restrictions would remain in force, and no end time for the suspension has been given. Further drone activity remains possible given recent attacks.
Several points remain unconfirmed. There is no response from Ukrainian authorities in the sources. Reports of drone debris on a Sheremetyevo runway come from social media photos and Russian Telegram channels, without official confirmation. A report of an Emirates Airbus A380 circling over Penza comes only from the Telegram channel Shot. No casualties or damage assessments have been reported.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.