An alleged drone strike attempt on Moscow forced authorities to suspend traffic to four major airports in the Russian capital on Friday, according to the country’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya.
“This morning, August 18, 2023, in order to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights, flights to Moscow airports: Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo were temporarily restricted. Also to Zhukovsky airport,” Rosaviatsiya said on its Telegram channel.
Russia blamed Ukraine for Friday’s attempted drone strike on Moscow, calling it a “terrorist attack.”
During the suspension, seven flights were diverted to alternative locations: three to Nizhny Novgorod, three to St Petersburg and one to Minsk, in Belarus.
Restrictions on air travel have since been lifted and “Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky airports are operating normally,” Rosaviatsiya also said.
Russian shelling kills 1 in Kupiansk, official says
From CNN’s Kostan Nechyporenko
A 61-year-old woman was killed after Russian shelling hit the eastern city of Kupiansk on Friday, a Ukrainian military official said.
Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said a 60-year-old woman was also injured in the attack.
Shelling also damaged homes in nearby areas, he added.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian authorities ordered mandatory evacuations from Kupiansk and its surrounding areas, as Russia intensified shelling of the northeastern Kharkiv region and claimed to have captured Ukrainian positions near the city.
Some more background: Kupiansk, which lies close to the Russian border, fell to Moscow’s forces within the first week of their invasion in February last year. It remained under Russian control for several months, before a swift Ukrainian offensive liberated the city in September, along with a number of other settlements in the region
