On the night of Monday, July 20, the Russian capital was the target of one of the largest air attacks since the beginning of the conflict.
Air defense forces have intercepted dozens of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying towards the city. This was officially announced by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on his channel on the social network Max (formerly Twitter), quoted by Interfax.
According to the mayor, as of 4:35 a.m. Bulgarian time (which coincides with Moscow time), the number of downed drones on the approaches to Moscow had reached 79 devices. Initially, the authorities reported the destruction of a wave of 8 UAVs, which quickly increased to 27, 58 and subsequently to the final nearly 80 units. “Specialists from the emergency and rescue services and emergency services are already working at the places where the debris from the drones fell”, Sobyanin explained, without giving detailed information about specific destruction or injured citizens.
Large-scale alarm in the Moscow region and neighboring regions
Public sources and local channels on Telegram, including the independent media project Astra (t.me/astrapress), are reporting multiple explosions and loud detonations in the Moscow region. Due to the increased air danger, an emergency missile and drone threat has been declared throughout the entire Moscow region.
Residents of the metropolis were warned of possible disruptions to the global network and local internet. According to data from human rights organizations and monitoring channels, the large-scale missile alert has covered a total of more than 10 neighboring Russian regions, including Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Tver, Kaluga, Voronezh, Kursk and Belgorod regions.
Chaos with flights at key airports
The Federal Air Transport Agency of Russia („Rosaviatsia“) responded immediately to the threat, introducing strict temporary restrictions on the use of airspace in the capital region.
- Zhukovsky Airport has completely ceased operations and is closed to passengers.
- Airports “Vnukovo“ and “Domodedovo“ went into a special regime, with aircraft taking off and landing only after explicit coordination with military authorities.
The incident comes just two days after another successful drone attack, which hit logistics centers of the Wildberries company and an oil base in Noginsk.