All four Moscow airports closed due to spate of Ukrainian drone attacks

Russia launched a sweeping overnight assault on Ukraine with nearly 300 drones and 50 missiles, killing one person in the Kyiv region and causing widespread damage, as Moscow temporarily shut all four of its major airports following a wave of Ukrainian drone interceptions.

Ukraine’s emergency service said one person was killed in the Kyiv region and eight others — including a child — were rescued from beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings. Fires broke out across five districts in the capital’s suburbs. In the village of Putrivka in Fastiv district, first responders worked for hours to pull survivors from debris.

Strikes were also reported in the southern Odesa region, where Russian attacks hit energy infrastructure, sparking major fires that were later extinguished.

According to Ukraine’s Air Force, the overnight barrage consisted of 297 drones and 50 missiles of various types. Of these, 274 drones and 33 missiles were shot down or neutralised. Fourteen missiles and 23 drones struck 14 separate locations, while three missiles were unaccounted for.

The attack comes as the war approaches its fourth anniversary, with civilians continuing to endure sustained aerial bombardment despite renewed diplomatic efforts over the past year. Russia has increasingly targeted Ukraine’s energy grid, leaving large parts of the country without electricity and heating during harsh winter conditions.

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said an explosion in the western city of Lviv killed one person and injured 25. One suspect has been arrested, and authorities said the blast was unrelated to Russia’s aerial campaign.

As Ukraine reeled from the missile barrage, Russia reported intercepting a large number of Ukrainian drones overnight.

Russia’s ministry of defence said air defence systems destroyed 86 Ukrainian drones. Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin said 11 drones heading towards the capital were shot down within the span of an hour.

The incidents prompted Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, to impose temporary flight restrictions at all four of Moscow’s international airports — Sheremetyevo International Airport, Domodedovo International Airport, Vnukovo International Airport and Zhukovsky International Airport.

Authorities said the closures were precautionary and aimed at ensuring passenger safety while air defence operations were under way. Flights were later gradually resumed after officials deemed the airspace secure.

Sobyanin said emergency services were dispatched to sites where drone debris fell, though no major casualties were immediately reported in the capital.

In the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Luhansk, Moscow-installed leader Leonid Pasechnik said two Ukrainian drones struck an oil depot, injuring a security guard and setting a fuel tank ablaze.

The dual developments — a massive Russian missile-and-drone barrage on Ukraine and simultaneous Ukrainian drone activity targeting Russian territory — underscore the intensifying aerial dimension of the conflict.

Both sides have increasingly relied on long-range drones and missile systems to strike deep behind front lines. For Ukraine, drone operations have become a key tool to disrupt logistics and signal reach into Russian territory. For Moscow, sustained missile and drone attacks aim to degrade Ukraine’s infrastructure and strain civilian morale.

Sunday’s exchanges fit a pattern that has grown more frequent over the past year. Russian authorities routinely report intercepting Ukrainian drones over border regions and occasionally near Moscow, prompting temporary airport closures and airspace restrictions. Kyiv, for its part, continues to face large-scale barrages that test its air defence systems and emergency response capacity.

With neither side showing signs of scaling back aerial operations, civilians on both sides remain exposed to sudden disruption — from damaged homes and energy outages in Ukraine to airport shutdowns and industrial strikes inside Russia.

With PTI inputs