On Tuesday, August 22, 2023, the three biggest Moscow airports suspended arrivals and departures early in the morning. The air space was closed over Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo, and Domodedovo. This move followed reports by the Russian Defense Ministry that a drone had been downed via electronic warfare in a rural area around 60 miles west of Vnukovo International Airport.
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No flights were able to take off from or land at Vnukovo as well as Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky airports, which together handle almost all the capital’s flight traffic. Operations were close to resuming after two hours of disruption before a second was shot down only 25 miles outside the capital, in the Istra District.
The Russian Defense Ministry was quick to blame Ukraine for the alleged attack. “The Kyiv regime launched another terrorist attack using a drone against facilities in Moscow and Moscow region on August 18 at 4:00 Moscow time,” the ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine has not commented on the incident. However, Kyiv has previously admitted to using drones to strike deep within Russian territory, as it tries to defend itself against Moscow’s unprovoked aggression⁴. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “Ukraine is getting stronger, and the war is gradually returning to Russia’s territory, to its symbolic centers and military bases”. This incident has caused chaos in flight operations and raised concerns about the safety of air travel. It remains to be seen how this situation will develop and what measures will be taken to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.