Unconfirmed media reports said between 10 and 20 drones could have attacked the airport.
Tass news agency, quoting emergency services, said four Il-76 transport aircraft, long the workhorse of the Russian military, were damaged at the military airfield.
“As a result of the drone attack, four Il-76 aircraft were damaged. A fire broke out and two planes burst into flames,” Tass reported.
Videos posted by Russian media showed thick black smoke rising over the airport. They cited posts of residents who heard explosions and gunfire.
A police officer with an anti-drone gun at the entrance of the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St Petersburg.Credit: AP
Reports on Telegram channels said anti-aircraft systems were in action around the city, located close to the borders of Latvia and Estonia.
The attack prompted the closure of airspace around Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on Wednesday, Tass news agency quoted Russian aviation officials as saying.
The airport was later reopened to air traffic.
Also early on Wednesday, Russian-installed officials in the annexed Crimea reported repelling an attack of drones targeting the harbour of the port city of Sevastopol. Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozzhayev said it wasn’t immediately clear how many of the drones had been destroyed. It wasn’t immediately clear if the attack caused any damage.
Drone attacks on Crimea or Russian regions have become increasingly common in recent months, with Moscow being a frequent target, as well as regions that border Ukraine, such as Bryansk. Fuel depots and air fields have been hit in drone attacks Russian officials blamed on Kyiv.
The Oryol and Kaluga regions border Bryansk, and the Moscow region sits north of Kaluga. Pskov, however, is about 700 kilometres north of Russia’s border with Ukraine, near the border with Estonia and Latvia, and has been described by Russian media and military bloggers as an unlikely target.
In Ukraine meanwhile, media reported explosions in the southern city of Odesa, the Cherkasy region and in Kyiv. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said debris fell on two districts of the capital, without clarifying whether that was the debris of a missile, or drone, or both.
The surge in Ukrainian drone attacks come as the Kremlin faces down the aftermath of the death of warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The mercenary Wagner Group boss was reportedly buried at a St Petersburg cemetery on Tuesday, following a suspicious plane crash two months after his brief mutiny that challenged the authority of President Vladimir Putin.
His spokespeople said the service took place behind closed doors, and directed “those who wish to bid their farewell” to the 62-year-old to go to the Porokhovskoye cemetery in his hometown. Their statement ended media speculation on where and when Prigozhin would be laid to rest.
Flowers are seen on the grave of Wagner Group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin after a funeral at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia.Credit: AP
AP, Reuters
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