The Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky airports diverted at least 36 planes before resuming operations, according to Russia’s federal air transport agency. According to the defense ministry, five individuals were hurt in the Moscow area.
Along with Istanbul, Moscow and the surrounding area are among the largest metropolitan regions in Europe, home to at least 21 million people.
According to Ukraine, Russia launched a record 145 drones overnight. According to Kyiv, 62 of them were shot down by its air defenses. Additionally, Ukraine claimed to have assaulted an arsenal in the Russian province of Bryansk, where 14 drones were alleged to have been shot down.
After Donald Trump was elected as the 47th president of the United States and Moscow’s troops advanced at the quickest rate since the beginning of the conflict, the two-and-a-half-year-old conflict in Ukraine is about to enter what some authorities think maybe its last act.
Trump, who becomes office in January, claimed throughout his campaign that he could bring about peace in Ukraine in a day, but he hasn’t provided many specifics on how he plans to accomplish it.
In retaliation against its much bigger eastern neighbor, Kyiv, which has been the subject of several mass drone strikes by Russian troops, has launched numerous drone strikes against airfields, oil refineries, and even Russian strategic early-warning radar facilities.
Drone warfare has been one of the war’s most significant breakthroughs, even if the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front has for the most part mirrored the grueling trench and artillery combat of World War One.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have attempted to purchase and create new drones, use them in creative ways, and find novel ways to take them down, ranging from sophisticated electrical jamming devices to farmers’ shotguns.
In order to fire down the drones before they reach the Kremlin in the center of the capital, Russia has constructed a complex network of air defenses, as well as a number of electronic “umbrellas” above Moscow and extra sophisticated inside layers over key structures.
Both parties have increased their own manufacturing while converting inexpensive commercial drones into lethal weapons. Both sides have utilized graphic video images of deadly drone attacks in their propaganda, and soldiers on both sides have expressed a deep terror of drones.
In an effort to shield Moscow from the brutality of the conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin has referred to Ukrainian drone strikes that target nuclear power plants and other civilian infrastructure as “terrorism” and promised retaliation.
The largest defense budget increase since the Cold War has helped Moscow, by far Russia’s wealthiest city, flourish during the conflict.
The boulevards of Moscow showed no signs of alarm. The bells of Russian Orthodox churches with onion domes echoed around the metropolis as Muscovites strolled their dogs.