Moscow temporarily closes airports as Ukraine targets Russia with drones
June 8 (UPI) -- Ukraine targeted Russia with another drone strike on Sunday, causing two airports serving Moscow and a third nearby to temporarily close.
Russia's Federal Agency for Air Transport said in a statement that restrictions had been put in place and later lifted at Moscow's Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports, as well as at the Kaluga airport about a hundred miles southwest of the capital.
"The restrictions were introduced to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights," the agency said.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that Russia had shot down multiple drones that had flown towards the city overnight.
"Emergency services specialists are working at the site of the falling debris," Sobyanin said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram that it intercepted and destroyed 61 Ukrainian drones over the Moscow region and the regions of Bryansk, Belgorod, Kaluga, Tula, Orel, Kursk, and Crimea. It later said another three were destroyed over the Belgorod, Bryansk and Tula regions.
The strikes came after Tula regional governor Dmitry Milyaev said on Telegram on Saturday that a drone crashed into the Azot chemical plant in Novomoskovsk and caused a fire, which was later put out. He said two people had been injured.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council's Counter-Disinformation Center, said on Telegram that the Azot plant "is one of the key links in the Russian military-industrial complex."
"It is here that explosives are manufactured, including TNT, which is used in artillery shells, aircraft bombs and missiles," Kovalenko alleged. "After the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the enterprise was put on wartime mode. Azot works closely with companies that manufacture shells, UAV hulls, and remote mining equipment."
Meanwhile, Russia praised the efforts of its own drone strikes Sunday, saying on Telegram that it had used drones to strike a MaxxPro armored vehicle operated by "Ukrainian militants" in the South Donetsk direction as well as to destroy an ammunition depot and in the Zaporizhia region.
On Saturday, Russia conducted a large-scale attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, killing multiple people as the death toll continued to grow, according to Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov.
The latest escalations in the war come amid a stalled prisoner exchange deal. Both sides have blamed each other for delays in reaching a deal.
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