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🇵🇱 Poland /Conflict & Security

Ukrainians ‘Close the Sky’ Over Moscow and Strike an Air-Defense Battalion

From Rzeczpospolita · () Polish

Translated from Polish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow, Sochi and Sirius overnight, according to Russian officials and Telegram channel ASTRA.
  • Three Moscow-area airports suspended operations, while Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 35 drones were shot down near the capital.
  • Russian authorities reported a fuel-storage fire and damaged residential buildings in the Krasnodar region, while a Russian strike set a residential building ablaze in Zaporizhzhia.

Ukrainian drones disrupted air travel around Moscow overnight, forcing Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports to suspend operations. The attacks also reached Sochi and Sirius in Russia’s Krasnodar region, where a fire broke out.

ASTRA, citing information shared on Telegram, reported numerous explosions in Sochi. Open-source analyses indicate that an air-defense battalion from the 1721st Regiment of the 51st Air Defense Division is stationed in Sirius. The unit is believed to operate S-300 and S-400 missile systems.

The area had already come under attack in May, when a large radar installation on the Black Sea coast was reportedly targeted. Russian authorities said the latest strikes caused a fire at a fuel depot and damaged several residential buildings. Debris from Ukrainian drones was found in several locations. No casualties had been reported.

Russian airspace will in fact be closed

· Volodymyr ZelenskyyThe Ukrainian president warned that drone attacks were disrupting air travel over Russia.

Sirius also hosts a Lukoil fuel base with storage capacity of up to 8,400 cubic meters of petroleum products. Ukrainian drones targeted the facility in July 2025.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Max messaging platform that 35 drones had been shot down on approaches to the Russian capital. Airports in Magnitogorsk, Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, Bugulma, Ulyanovsk, Samara, Penza and Saratov also temporarily suspended operations.

Several days earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “Russian airspace will in fact be closed,” warning airlines and passengers that the skies over Russia were becoming “completely dangerous” because of Ukrainian drones. Separately, Russian forces shelled Zaporizhzhia overnight. Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov released footage showing a residential building on fire, with no casualties reported.

completely dangerous

· Volodymyr ZelenskyyZelenskyy described the growing danger to airlines and passengers in Russian airspace.
About this summary

Originally published by Rzeczpospolita in Polish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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