Russia Claims Ukraine Attacks Moscow With Five Drones, Influences Flight Routes

JAKARTA - Russian authorities said on Tuesday Ukraine had attacked Moscow with at least five drones, causing one of the airports in the capital to change its flight route for several hours and there were no casualties as a result of the attack.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that four Ukrainian drones were shot down by Moscow's air defenses. While the fifth drone was jammed and crashed in the Odintsovo District, Moscow Region.

Russian news agency reported two drones were intercepted near a village 30 km southwest of the Kremlin. One drone was detected in Kaluga's neighboring region.

Another drone was shot down in the Kubinka City area, about 63 km west of Moscow, RIA reported. The Russian air base is near Kubinka.

"Currently, attacks have been thwarted by air defense forces. All detected drones have been removed," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel.

As a result of the drone strike, takeoff and landing at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport were limited on Tuesday, before returning to normal operations after GMT. A number of flights from Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt were diverted.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Ministry of Defense condemned the attack as an act of terrorism.

"The Kyiv regime's efforts to attack areas where civilian infrastructure is located, including airports, which happen to also receive foreign flights, are other acts of terrorism," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

"The international community must realize that the United States, Britain, France, is funding the terrorist regime," he said.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv. Ukraine itself has almost never publicly claimed responsibility for attacks within Russia or in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

However, high-profile drone attacks deep within Russia have increased over the past few months, including attacks on the Kremlin in May and Russian oil infrastructure last month.

President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was trying to scare and provocate Russia after a May drone strike, although later said the capital's air defenses would be strengthened.