Moscow’s four civilian airports suspended operations in the early hours of Monday after Russian air defences intercepted what Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described as 59 drones heading for the capital; other official tallies ranged from 80 to 84. The federal aviation watchdog confirmed that Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky halted flights for several hours before restrictions were lifted. Russia’s defence ministry said a total of 301 Ukrainian drones were downed nationwide overnight, including over occupied areas of Ukraine. Emergency services were dispatched to drone crash sites around Moscow, though Sobyanin reported no immediate casualties or major damage within the city.

Viewed from Kyiv, the operation was part of a widening campaign against Russian military logistics and energy facilities. Ukraine’s general staff stated that a satellite communications centre in the Moscow region was struck, while President Volodymyr Zelensky said long-range strikes had hit naval oil-transport infrastructure in Krasnodar, an oil depot in Kerch, and four S-400 radar stations as well as two Pantsir air-defence systems. Zelensky has previously framed such attacks as retaliation for Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities. In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin has described the drone campaign as an attempt to “create a split in Russian society, sow confusion and inflict economic damage.”

The immediate consequences extended beyond the capital. In Russian-annexed Crimea, the city of Sevastopol cancelled all open-air public events and kept street lights off, while fuel sales to the public and businesses were suspended, with supplies restricted to essential services and security agencies. Local officials attributed the measures to a fuel crisis caused by repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on supply routes and energy sites. Meanwhile, Russian strikes on Ukrainian territory killed at least five civilians, including three members of one family in the Sumy region, and a Russian drone attack set fire to the Turkish-operated, Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel Victress in the Black Sea, killing an Egyptian crew member and forcing eight sailors to evacuate.

According to Western military analysts, Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign has more than doubled in frequency over the past year, with some 800 strikes expected by the end of 2025, hitting targets more than 100 kilometres from Ukraine’s borders. Satellite imagery verified by The Moscow Times shows the destruction of multiple oil tanks at Moscow’s Kapotnya refinery in a separate attack last week, and earlier strikes incapacitated the Ust-Luga oil-export terminal for months. The pattern points to a sustained effort to degrade Russian energy export capacity and military supply chains, even as Moscow continues its own long-range bombardment of Ukrainian infrastructure. No diplomatic channel has yielded a pause in these reciprocal deep strikes, and both sides signal further operations are under preparation.