Russia foils UAV attack on Moscow, capital's airports temporarily shut down

Russian Air Defense Forces thwarted a drone attack on Moscow at dawn on August 20, 2023

On the morning of August 20, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that air defense forces had shot down at least one hostile UAV headed towards Moscow. Mr. Sobyanin also praised the Defense Ministry for its perfect performance in preventing a “terrorist attack” on the Russian capital.

“At night, a drone was flying towards Moscow from the south. It was intercepted by air defenses,” Sobyanin wrote on Telegram at 4:34 a.m. local time, without specifying the exact location where the drone was intercepted.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the UAV was detected in the sky over the Stupino district of the Moscow region at around 4 a.m. It was suppressed by electronic warfare means and crashed in a deserted area, causing no damage or injuries.

Moscow's southwestern and southern international airports Vnukovo and Domodedovo suspended all incoming and outgoing flights as a precaution at the time of the incident.

At the same time, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of the capital, a drone crashed onto the roof of a railway station in the central city of Kursk, shattering several windows, starting a small fire and injuring several people. It is not yet clear whether the incidents on Sunday morning were part of a coordinated drone attack.

Five people were injured in the attack early this morning in the city of Kursk, said Roman Starovoit, governor of the Kursk region. “According to preliminary information, it hit the roof of the railway station building, after which a fire broke out. Five people were slightly injured by glass fragments,” the governor wrote at 3:54 a.m. local time.

The official added that all “emergency services are working at the scene”, promising to share more details about the incident.

According to several unverified videos shared by the Telegram news channel, the explosion apparently caused only minor damage to the roof and facade of the building. Witnesses also reported hearing the sound of drone engines in the area before the explosion.

Around the time of the attack, Moscow's two international airports, Vnukovo and Domodedovo, briefly suspended all flights as a precaution after the capital's air defenses successfully intercepted another attacking UAV.

Last month, a drone crashed and exploded prematurely in the city of Kurchatov in the Kursk region, an industrial center adjacent to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.

Russian regions near the border with Ukraine such as Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod have been regularly shelled and attacked by drones since Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has also stepped up its efforts to target Moscow with drone attacks, but according to Russia, they have been largely unsuccessful. These included two consecutive attacks by Ukrainian suicide drones in late July and early August on Moscow’s central financial district. Several of the drones were shot down by air defenses as they attempted to fly toward Moscow, but one crashed into an office building that houses several Russian government agencies.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov on July 31 accused Ukraine of attacking Moscow and other civilian targets in Russia out of frustration with the unfavorable results of its counterattacks on the battlefield in recent times.

According to Tin Tuc Newspaper