The authorities in Moscow briefly halted operations at two major airports overnight in response to what officials described as a Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian capital, as Ukraine’s president arrived in the Netherlands for talks on the delivery of advanced Western fighter jets.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram early on August 20 that air defenses had disrupted the incident, which he said involved a single drone. But operations at the city’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports were suspended.
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The Defense Ministry reported that the drone had been disabled by electronic means over Moscow’s Stupino district around 4 a.m. local time. The previous day, the military said a drone had been “intercepted” in the Moscow region en route to the capital.
Operations at Moscow airports have been suspended several times in recent weeks. On July 30, Vnukovo was shut down after a drone attack damaged high-rise buildings at the prestigious Moskva-Citi business complex. The airport was shut down again briefly on August 6.
Also on August 20, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region wrote on Telegram that a “Ukrainian drone” had crashed through the glass roof of the Kursk railway station, starting a small fire and injuring five people.
Another overnight drone attack was reported in the southern Russian region of Rostov. Officials said the purported attack was thwarted by electronic means.
The information could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on August 20 arrived in the Netherlands for talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rugge at a military air base in Eindhoven.
The talks come two days after the United States gave approval for Dutch and Danish authorities to hand over F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv. The Danish and Dutch governments are also participating in a coalition effort to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the advanced aircraft, which are seen as a significant upgrade in Kyiv’s capabilities to counter Russia’s invasion.
On August 20, the Ukrainian military reported five Russian missile strikes and 61 air strikes over the previous 24 hours.
“As a result of Russian terrorist attacks, unfortunately, there are dead and wounded among the civilian population,” the General Staff said in its daily briefing. “Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were destroyed.”
The incidents came one day after a Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv killed at least seven civilians and injured at least 148 more.
Acting Chernihiv Mayor Oleksandr Lomako has declared three days of mourning from August 19-21, writing on social media that “we will never forgive this.”