An Attack By Nearly 500 Drones Brought Moscow's Airports To A Standstill

• 14.10.2026, 12:17

More than 500 flights have been delayed or canceled.

Since the evening of October 13, due to massive attack by Ukrainian drones on Moscow, more than 500 flights were delayed or canceled. After 10:00 p.m., Rosaviatsiya imposed restrictions on aircraft arrivals and departures at all four airports in the capital’s aviation hub: Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Zhukovsky, and Vnukovo. Vnukovo, in particular, was closed for more than 8 hours. All passengers were returned to the terminal. Airport management reported that they were provided with water and mats.

At Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo alone, 410 flights were delayed and 137 were canceled starting at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, according to “Ostrozhno, Novosti.” Due to the restrictions, dozens of planes were rerouted to other airports, including Pulkovo in St. Petersburg. One of the airliners, flying from Egypt to Moscow, was forced to land in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

At Sheremetyevo, 119 departing flights and 123 arriving flights were delayed. Another 45 departures and 47 arrivals were canceled. At Vnukovo, 82 departing flights and 86 arriving flights were delayed, and 45 were canceled.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that from 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday until 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched 493 drones toward the capital. According to him, most of these UAVs “were neutralized by air defense forces at a distance,” while 180 drones were destroyed as they approached Moscow.

This is already the second prolonged shutdown of the capital’s airports due to Ukrainian attacks in the past week. The last time, the airports were closed for several hours on October 9. At that time, even Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was returning from the CIS summit in Turkmenistan, was unable to land in Moscow. For the first time since the start of the war against Ukraine, four government aircraft were forced to circle in a holding pattern near the capital. As a result, flight 96025 diverted to an alternate airport in St. Petersburg and did not depart for Moscow until some time later. On October 8, Putin had stepped off the plane in Turkmenistan aboard this very same aircraft.