Two Nights of Ukrainian Drones Close Airports Across Russia

Ukraine has hit Russia with drone waves two nights in a row, grounding flights from the Moscow region to the Volga. In the night of 9–10 October, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said air defences downed 403 drones headed for the capital region between 20:30 on Friday and 08:30 on Saturday. Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky were restricted until 08:50, and flight trackers counted between 300 and 370 flights delayed or cancelled.

Russia’s federal aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, imposed temporary restrictions at 17 airports overnight and on Saturday morning, and Russia’s defence ministry said it destroyed 560 Ukrainian drones overnight. Ukrainian drones also set fire to the Yug Rusi oil-loading terminal in Rostov-on-Don, which handles 2.5 million tonnes of oil products a year. The strike came hours after Donald Trump announced a diesel deal with Vladimir Putin.

A second night

On Saturday evening it started again. Airport data shows that Penza, Saransk, Saratov and Kaluga were closed from about 22:00 Moscow time, Sochi briefly, and Volgograd was restricted shortly after midnight. The news account @visegrad24 summed up the night:

“The Russian airports in Saratov, Penza, Volgograd, Sochi, Saratov, Saransk and Kaluga have been closed after Ukraine launches 400+ drones at Russia.”

— @visegrad24 on X

Most airports had reopened by Sunday morning, Kaluga at 07:24. The figure of 400 drones for the second night comes from that post. Russian authorities had not confirmed a total in the reports we found.

The campaign is aimed at Russia’s fuel and digital backbone as well as its air traffic. On 8 and 9 October Ukrainian drones knocked out Yandex data centres in Ryazan and Kaluga, disrupting Russian Railways booking systems and a mobile operator. Kaluga’s governor said nine people were injured on Friday.

Each closure costs Russia money and attention: hundreds of flights rebooked, passengers stranded at the capital’s airports and air defences stretched over a country eleven time zones wide.