All four of Moscow’s major airports suspended operations in the early hours of Monday after a wave of drones approached the capital, forcing the temporary closure of Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported on Telegram that air defences had intercepted 59 drones by 03:00 local time, later updating the tally to 80. The Russian Defence Ministry stated that a total of 301 drones were downed overnight across the country and in annexed Crimea. Flight restrictions were lifted by 05:39 local time, and Sobyanin said emergency services were deployed to crash sites but reported no casualties or immediate damage.

Ukrainian authorities described a series of Russian strikes that killed at least five civilians and hit a foreign-flagged merchant vessel. In the northern Sumy region, a drone attack killed a 13-year-old boy, his father and grandmother, regional prosecutors said. A separate drone strike in Zaporizhzhia killed a woman and injured three others, according to local governor Ivan Fedorov. An Iskander ballistic missile hit an agricultural facility in the Odesa region on Sunday evening, killing one person and setting fuel storage tanks alight, governor Oleh Kiper reported. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said a Russian drone struck the Turkish-operated, Panamanian-flagged dry cargo ship Victress, killing a 58-year-old Egyptian cook and forcing eight crew members—including Turkish and Indian nationals—to evacuate on a life raft. The vessel sustained severe damage and lost seaworthiness, Kuleba added.

The disruption to civilian aviation around Moscow, though brief, underscored the reach of long-range drone attacks that have become a regular feature of the conflict. In Russian-annexed Crimea, the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, cancelled all open-air public events and ordered street lights switched off, while fuel sales to the public and businesses were suspended, with supplies restricted to essential services. The measures, according to local authorities, are a response to Ukrainian drone strikes on supply routes and energy infrastructure that have triggered a fuel crisis on the peninsula.

The latest exchanges follow a strike last week on Moscow’s sole oil refinery, which supplies a significant share of the capital’s fuel, in what city officials described as one of the largest air raids on the city since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. Viewed from Kyiv, the intensification of strikes deep inside Russian territory is part of a campaign to degrade military logistics and bring the war’s costs closer to the Russian population. Moscow, for its part, has continued daily bombardments of Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. No new diplomatic initiatives were announced on Monday, and the pattern of reciprocal long-range attacks shows no sign of abating.