Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin attends a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, February 7, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS/File Photo

Moscow airport halts flights amid drone attack

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defences destroyed a hostile drone as it approached the city on Sunday, while one of the capital's airports suspended flights.

Published on:

06 Aug 2023, 9:07 pm

(Reuters) - Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said a hostile drone was destroyed by air defences as it approached the city on Sunday, while one of the capital's airports suspended flights.

Russia's Defence Ministry said separately that the Ukrainian drone had been downed over the Podolsk district of the Moscow region south of the capital.

Sobyanin wrote on messaging app Telegram that the drone approached Moscow around 11 a.m. (0800 GMT). Russia accused Ukraine of two drone attacks on its capital last week which damaged a skyscraper in the Moskva Citi district.

On Sunday, the Vnukovo airport said it was suspending flights "for reasons beyond our control".

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Alex Richardson and Hugh Lawson)