Moscow airports shut for second day after Ukraine's drone strike

Airports in the Russian capital were shut down for several hours on Tuesday after Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow for a second consecutive night, prompting a large-scale response from Russia’s air defence systems, as reported by Reuters.

At least 19 drones were destroyed by the defence unit which were approaching “from different directions” as said by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin through a social media post. No major destruction or injuries were reported.

Bazaar, Mash and Shot, the major telegram news channels linked to Russian security services reported that a drone had struck an apartment building in the south of Moscow. Windows were smashed although no casualty was reported.

Apart from Moscow, airports in a number of regional cities were also closed. Russian aviation watchdog Rosaria’s reported that flight operations were halted in all four airports of Moscow for several hours to ensure safety.

The governor of the Voronezh region bordering Ukraine reported early on Tuesday that at least 18 drones were destroyed causing negligible damage to non-residential buildings and children’s playground.

The Russian air defence unit also struck down ten drones over the southern Pena region. A regional governor reported on telegram that no damage or injury was caused.

The full extent of the attack on Moscow and other Russian regions on Tuesday is yet to be gauged and there was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

Since the start of the war launched by Russia three years ago, Kyiv has launched several drone attacks on Moscow, the biggest of which killed three people.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany in the second world war, Russian president Vladimir Putin had announced a three-day ceasefire over May 8-10. Ukranian President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed this measure as “pointless”.

Zelenskyy offered a 30 day unconditional ceasefire in line with a US proposal launched in March.