Sheremetyevo declared an "air alert" and began evacuating passengers, moving them to "safe shelter locations," the airport said in its Telegram channel. Rosaviatsia, the federal air transport agency, announced "temporary restrictions on the reception and departure of aircraft" at all four of the capital's airports.
By 3:30 p.m., more than 340 flights had been delayed or cancelled at the Moscow air hubs, msk1.ru reported. Domodedovo announced an "adjustment to the flight schedule." At Vnukovo, passengers were advised to "be prepared for a lengthy wait for the restrictions to be lifted, including on board aircraft."
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 17 drones had been shot down on approach to the capital. His first message on his Telegram channel appeared at 13:38.
Some flights bound for Moscow were diverted to St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport, the Fontanka outlet reported. Seven flights from St. Petersburg to Moscow were cancelled, departures of nine more were delayed by almost two hours, and three by two hours or more. According to Baza, at least nine aircraft were sent to alternate airfields. Besides St. Petersburg, flights were redirected to Nizhny Novgorod, Minsk, Baku and back to Samara.
Monitoring channels began recording drones on approach to Moscow and air defense fire at around 1 p.m. Drone alerts were issued in Reutov, Balashikha, Zheleznodorozhny, Lyubertsy and Kapotnya, and later in southern Moscow districts including Biryulyovo, Tsaritsyno, Zyablikovo, Bratyevo and Zyuzino.
Rosaviatsia said the situation in the Moscow region was under the "special control" of the Transport Ministry and the agency itself. This is the fifth such crisis this month, The Moscow Times noted. Last week, drone raids forced Moscow airports to close for 5-7 hours, when more than 350 flights were cancelled or delayed. On October 16, all Moscow airports were also shut over a drone threat, affecting more than 200 flights.