Massive overnight drone strikes launched by Ukraine have caused widespread disruption at Moscow’s main airports, leaving thousands of passengers stranded, Russian media reported Monday.
Footage shared by local outlets showed passengers sleeping on the floors of Sheremetyevo Airport — Russia’s busiest in terms of passenger traffic — as long queues formed due to mass flight delays and cancellations.
According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, 117 drones were intercepted overnight, including 30 over the Moscow region. This followed a previous wave just a day earlier when 172 drones were reportedly shot down, again with 30 targeting Moscow.
In response to the threat, Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, temporarily restricted air traffic at the capital’s four major airports — Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky — as a precaution.
The drone attacks and subsequent airspace restrictions left several thousand people stranded, particularly in Russia’s Far East, as flights bound for European Russia were canceled. In an emergency measure, extra train services were deployed to return passengers to Moscow from St. Petersburg, Russian outlets reported.
These developments mark one of the largest coordinated drone attacks by Ukraine on Russian territory since the start of the war, targeting both strategic and symbolic infrastructure.
