Moscow airports closed by Ukrainian drones as Putin returns from Turkmenistan

What happened at Moscow airports?

A Ukrainian drone and balloon attack on Moscow forced the temporary closure of all four of the city's major airports, disrupting hundreds of commercial flights and delaying aircraft carrying Russian President Vladimir Putin back from an overseas summit.

Aviation authorities activated the emergency 'Carpet' protocol, halting all departures and arrivals across Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports. The shutdown left presidential aircraft circling over the capital or diverting to other cities before normal operations could resume.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defence systems shot down 15 drones over the capital. Local residents reported explosions across several southern Moscow districts, including Kapotnya, Kuzminki, Lyublino, Maryino and Tsaritsyno. Flight restrictions were also reported in regional aviation hubs including Penza, Nizhny Novgorod and Saratov.

How was Putin's flight affected?

President Vladimir Putin was returning to Moscow from Turkmenbashi International Airport in Turkmenistan, where he had attended a Commonwealth of Independent States summit and held bilateral meetings with Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedow and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed three Ilyushin Il-96-300PU government jets operated by the official Rossiya Special Flight Squadron heading towards Moscow. Because the Russian presidency uses identical decoy aircraft alongside the main presidential plane for security, it was not immediately public which aircraft carried Putin himself.

As the aerial restrictions came into force, two of the government planes were forced into holding patterns, circling repeatedly near the capital. A third aircraft following the same flight path changed course entirely and diverted to St Petersburg.

Flightradar24 tracking showed government flight RSD229 eventually landed safely at Moscow's Vnukovo airport at 6.21pm local time, following a six-hour journey from Turkmenistan.

What was the impact on civilian air traffic?

The disruption extended far beyond the presidential convoy. More than 370 civilian flights were delayed across Moscow's airports, while another 62 were cancelled outright.

Dozens of inbound passenger flights were diverted to alternative airports across Russia, including Kazan and St Petersburg. International flights were also caught up in the shutdown; at least two passenger jets heading to Moscow from Antalya in Turkey turned around over Polish airspace and returned to Istanbul.

Federal Air Transport Agency officials confirmed temporary restrictions had been imposed across Moscow airspace, though state media agency TASS initially offered no explicit explanation for the grounding. Ukrainian officials have not officially claimed responsibility for the drone operation, following their standard policy on deep-strike attacks inside Russian territory.