Russia reports 613 drones launched towards Moscow as attack disrupts flights
Russian officials reported a large overnight drone attack on Moscow, while flight restrictions affected three regional airports. The reported drone totals have not been independently verified.
Russian officials said 613 drones were launched towards Moscow overnight on 28–29 October 2026, as an attack disrupted flights at airports serving the Russian capital. Al Jazeera reported the launch figure, citing Russian state news agency TASS; the figure has not been independently verified.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defences destroyed 231 drones approaching the city and that the remainder were neutralised farther away, according to Al Jazeera. His account places the reported interceptions between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Flight restrictions at Moscow airports
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency imposed flight restrictions at Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports during the attack, The Kyiv Independent reported. At the time of its update, restrictions had been lifted at Zhukovsky, while temporary limits remained at Vnukovo and Domodedovo.
Two flights from Istanbul to Moscow turned back because of restrictions at Vnukovo, The Kyiv Independent reported, citing TASS. The airport limits affected travellers while authorities were responding to the reported drone threat around the capital.
How the reported drone counts developed
In an earlier account of the same night, The Kyiv Independent tracked Sobyanin’s successive interception reports. It said he initially reported 57 drones intercepted in Moscow Oblast between 10:46 p.m. and 12:09 a.m. local time, then raised the count to 72 and later 166. Those figures describe interceptions reported at different points in the attack, while the later 613 figure describes drones said to have been launched. The outlet said it could not independently verify the mayor’s claims.
At the time of that earlier update, no casualties or damage had been reported, and Sobyanin had not identified specific targets, The Kyiv Independent said. The eventual impact was not immediately clear.
Previous drone attacks and airport disruption
Drone strikes had already interrupted air travel around Moscow several times in October. The Kyiv Independent reported that an overnight attack on 23 October grounded flights at all four of the region’s main airports. It also reported that a large-scale attack struck a weapons plant in Moscow Oblast on 22 October.
Al Jazeera described the latest attack as part of a series of large drone assaults targeting the Moscow region. It said Russian air-defence forces reported shooting down more than 1,600 drones during an attack in September, a comparison also based on the Russian authorities’ account.
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Sources and context
- Russia says more than 600 drones launched towards Moscow overnightAl Jazeera (report credited to Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters)
- Moscow faces mass drone strike overnight, flights grounded at major airportsThe Kyiv Independent
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.