Russia's giant cargo plane flies dangerously low over Moscow apartments to avoid Ukrainian drones. Watch
According to Moscow's mayor, at least 34 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight.
A video has captured the world’s biggest cargo aircraft skimming rooftops over Moscow as waves of Ukrainian drones swarmed the capital. The massive Russian defence ministry Antonov-124 “scared” locals as it thundered low near Vnukovo airport.
The clip going viral on social media shows the giant plane swooping down over Moscow's skyline. It passes directly over residential towers, appearing to miss them by a whisker from the street. A metallic screech and thunderous roar echo through the neighborhood as stunned residents watch in shock.
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Ukraine’s drone attack on Moscow
According to a report by The Sun, the plane was flying low on purpose to avoid the Ukrainian drones that hammered Moscow overnight. Russian air defences scrambled to shoot down the incoming unmanned drones in one of the largest Ukrainian attacks on Moscow since the outbreak of war.
The Antonov-124 is 226 feet long with a 240-foot wingspan and weighs 450 tons. Seeing such a machine skimming rooftops is rare. It is unclear whether the plane had been landing or taking off from Vnukovo.
According to the city’s mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, at least 34 drones were shot down overnight. He said that the drone attacks caused major airport disruptions. Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport stopped flights, and many planes had to land in other cities. Passengers on a Dubai-to-Moscow flight were also stuck on the plane or in terminals for hours, with little food or water.
Similar drone disruptions happened in Europe as well. Copenhagen Airport closed for four hours, and Oslo Airport stopped operations for three hours. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has since claimed that mysterious drones were part of a Russian sabotage operation.
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Russian missile attack on Ukraine
Meanwhile, Russia has been staging devastating new attacks across Ukraine. A missile strike in Odesa’s Tatarbunary region left one woman dead and three people injured. In Zaporizhzhia, bombs hit a residential building, killing another civilian. Attacks in Donetsk caused power outages and damaged homes and factories.
