Ukraine unleashed chaos at Moscow’s four airports overnight with drone strikes on the city for the fourth successive day.
Hundreds of passenger planes had to be diverted as waves of unmanned flying bombs converged on the Russian capital.
Footage showed explosions as Russian air defences attacked incoming unmanned planes in Zelenograd, a district 23 miles northwest of the Kremlin.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have downed 93 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 19 that were approaching Moscow.
But during the chaos, authorities were twice forced close airspace over Moscow.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency diverted some 134 planes to alternate airports amid the mayhem, saying it was ‘necessary to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights’.
Frustrated passengers – including tourists on summer vacations – were hit by delays, diverted flights and numerous cancellations in an apparent new tactic by Ukraine to paralyse air travel in Vladimir Putin’s capital.
Many bedded down at the airports amid the chaos as airports Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky were all affected.
State airline Aeroflot announced it had been forced to adjust its flight schedule due to restrictions imposed at Sheremetyevo Airport, as travellers waited for information.
Regional airports at Nizhny Novgorod, Kaluga, and Yaroslavl were also disrupted.
Cars were burning and a residential building hit after Russian air defences downed a kamikaze drone in Zelenograd, a district in northern Moscow.
Debris sparked fires that damaged buildings and set vehicles alight, according to The Kyiv Post reported.
The chaos in Moscow’s airports, the city where the vast majority of the nation’s elite lives, will be seen as a strategic success by Ukraine.
The nation stepped up assaults inside Russia since Donald Trump reportedly told Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky it was time to make Russians feel ‘the pain’ of war.
And although Russian officials claimed success in intercepting the majority of drones, the repeated closures of Moscow’s airspace suggest Ukraine is successfully placing pressure on the capital.
The targeting of not just military assets but the daily functioning of civilian infrastructure will put further pressure on Putin’s regime.
Meanwhile more travel disruption was caused by anti-Putin partisan group Atesh setting fire to a relay cabinet responsible for a strategic rail link in Tula region.
This caused ‘serious disruptions in railway communication, critically impacting the timely delivery of ammunition, weapons, and dual-use components from Tula [defence] factories’.
Earlier, a video showed Ukraine striking the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, amid reports a military base was hit at or close to a regional clinical trauma hospital.
And one person died in a drone attack on Ukrainian-controlled Sloviansk in Donetsk region.
However, Putin’s war machine, continues its indiscriminate campaign of terror against Ukrainian civilians.
It was seen pummelling Ukraine’s Sumy border region with heavy bombs. One strike hit Shostka, 27 miles from the frontier between Ukraine and Russia.
A 78-year-old woman died in the region as Putin’s forces continued to attack civilians with drones.
Russia also hit Zaporizhzhia region, wounding a woman aged 69.
Putin’s forces released footage of the launch of a hypersonic aeroballistic missile from the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal complex from a MiG-31K warplane.
A Russian Shahed [Geran-2] drone was seen exploding close to a Yak-52 aircraft, which was performing the function of an interceptor.
This came as the Putin regime has announced it will defy demands from Donald Trump for a peace deal by intensifying strikes on Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky demanded face to face talks with Putin to end the war.
‘The pace of negotiations must be increased. Everything must be done to achieve a ceasefire,’ he said.
‘And the Russian side must stop hiding from decisions.
‘Prisoner exchanges. Return of children. End to the killings.
‘And a meeting at the level of leaders is needed to truly ensure peace – a really lasting one. Ukraine is ready for such a meeting.’
But German general Christian Fröding has warned Putin is preparing to swarm 2,000 drones at Ukraine, launching them simultaneously and aiming to overwhelm its air defences.
The Bundeswehr commander blamed China for surging key drone parts to Russia, while depriving Ukraine of them.
‘The current situation is such that China is effectively exporting exclusively to Russia, while Ukraine is excluded from this market,’ he said.
