Khrabrovo Airport Cancels 10 Flights as Russian Air Defenses Down 555 Ukrainian Drones

Kaliningrad's Khrabrovo Airport implemented schedule adjustments on June 18 due to temporary restrictions imposed across Moscow's aviation hub. According to the airport's press service, five flights were cancelled on departure and five on arrival, while eleven outbound and ten inbound flights experienced delays. The airport urged passengers to verify flight status before traveling to avoid inconvenience.

The schedule disruptions followed one of the year's most intensive Ukrainian drone attacks overnight on June 17-18. Russian air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 555 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles across 18 Russian regions, Crimea, the Moscow region, and the Azov Sea area, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported that approximately 180 drones were destroyed on approach to the capital.

The attack caused minor damage to infrastructure in the Moscow region. One building at the Sadovod shopping center sustained minor damage with no casualties reported, according to Sobyanin. Fragments from a drone struck the roof of the Belaya Dacha shopping center in Lyuberetsy, and another drone impacted an apartment building in Zhukovskiy with no preliminary casualties. Additionally, several drones managed to strike the Moscow oil refinery. The combination of the large-scale drone attack and resulting air traffic restrictions created significant disruption to civilian aviation operations in the region.