Russia accuses Kyiv of a ‘terrorist act’ after five drones are downed within 40 miles of Moscow

Russia on Tuesday said it had downed five Ukrainian drones in the Moscow region, calling it a “terrorist act” that disrupted the functioning of an international airport.

Four of the drones were shot down by Moscow air defenses near Vnukovo airport, while a fifth was trapped and crashed in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, Russia’s defense ministry said. It added that no one was injured.

Reports said the single drone was aimed at a military base about 40 kilometers away from the airport sometimes used by Vladimir Putin.

Russia laid the blame on Ukraine, which has not commented on the attacks believed to have used kamikaze drones, which damage and destroy targets by crashing an explosive charge directly into them.

“An attempt by the Kiev regime to attack a zone where civilian infrastructure is located, including an airport that receives international flights, is a new act of terrorism,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Telegram.

The Russian military said it shot down all five drones.

Four drones were destroyed by anti-aircraft systems, while a fifth was neutralized by “electronic means” before crashing, it said.

Emergency services quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency said one of the drones had been neutralized in Kubinka, about 40 kilometers from Vnukovo airport.

Airport operation was briefly interrupted by the attack.

Several flights were diverted to other airports and the Russian air transport agency said traffic on Vnukovo resumed at 0500 GMT.

Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said other airports in Moscow and the Moscow region were operating normally.

The state agency RIA Novosti also reported that two drones were shot down near the village of Valuevo in New Moscow, citing emergency services. The drones had fallen into an ‘open field’ and no casualties were reported.

However, it was reported that an administrative building was damaged at the main Kubinka military air base, some 77 kilometers southwest of the Kremlin.

Some reports say the damage was caused after it was shot down by air defenses.

A second wave of drones led to Vnukovo airport diverting at least ten incoming domestic and international flights.

The airport is routinely used by government officials, including Putin and VIPs, and appears to be closed to arrivals as a precaution due to nearby drones exploding. The emergency at Vnukovo airport was declared at 08:00 local time.

Videos showed explosions caused by the suspected Ukrainian drones near Moscow.

It is not believed that the drones hit the territory of Vnukovo airport itself.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called it “another Ukrainian drone strike attempt.”

“Today there was another attempted attack by Ukrainian drones in New Moscow and the Moscow region,” he said on Tuesday.

“So far, the attacks have been repelled by air defense forces and all detected UAVs have been eliminated. For security reasons, some flights have been temporarily diverted from Vnukovo Airport.’

He said there were “no casualties” and “emergency services are on the scene.”

There was no immediate response from Kiev. Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks in Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Drone strikes have hit Russian cities during the Moscow offensive in Ukraine, but have intensified in recent months.

Moscow and the surrounding area, some 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, have rarely been attacked so far.

In early May, two drones were shot down over the Kremlin, and later that same month, drones hit Moscow high-rises. And at the end of May there was a drone strike near Putin’s palatial residence Novo-Ogaryovo, near Moscow.

The twin drone strike that hit the Kremlin was portrayed by the Russians as an attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin.

Kiev said early Tuesday that Russia had launched 22 Iranian “Shahed” attack drones in the Sumy, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Its troops had “destroyed” 16 of the drones, it said.

Separately on Tuesday, a suspected Ukrainian Valkyrja attack drone was reportedly shot down in the Belgorod border area, as well as a Leleka-100 reconnaissance drone.

Reports said there were no casualties at Kubinka despite structural damage to an administrative building at the air force base that houses attack aircraft and an air force demonstration team.

Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport said: ‘For technical reasons, independent of the airport, restrictions have been introduced at Vnukovo for the acceptance and release of aircraft from 05:10.

Restrictions on accepting and releasing aircraft at Vnukovo Airport were extended until 08:00 in the morning.

Other airports in Moscow and the Moscow region are operating normally.

“All airport services and air traffic controllers of air traffic services are operating normally.”

Among the planes diverted to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport were flights from Sharm El Sheikh and Dubai.

One of the jammed drones crashed into a garage and exploded in the village of Krivosheino, sparking a major fire.

Two drones were reported flying towards Moscow over the Kaluga region.

Eyewitnesses reported aircraft-like drones at an altitude of some 700 feet.

One was black in color and had a wingspan of about 10 feet. The other was grayish and smaller in size.

Other drones would be of the helicopter type.

According to reports, drone strikes occurred between 4 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. local time.

Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “The Kiev regime’s attempt to attack an area where civilian infrastructure is located, including the airport, which incidentally also receives foreign flights, is another act of terrorism.

‘Considering that [Volodymyr] Zelensky commits these attacks with weapons supplied by the West or bought with Western funds, this is international terrorism.

“The world community must realize that the US, Britain and France, permanent members of the UN Security Council, are funding a terrorist regime.”