Moscow’s Domodedovo, Zhukovsky, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports have resumed normal operations after flights were suspended this morning (September 10) to ensure safety following a drone attack, Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsia said via Telegram, adding that Russian air defenses shot down a total of 144 Ukrainian UAVs overnight, 20 of which managed to land in the capital Moscow.
Later, a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry provided more details about the targets of the drone swarm: 72 UAVs were reportedly hit while trying to enter the airspace from the Bryansk region; 20 in the Moscow region, 14 in the Kursk region, 13 in the Tula region and 25 more heading to other parts of the country. The wave of drones reportedly killed a 46-year-old woman and injured three others who were taken to a hospital in Ramenskoye, the city that was hit, according to Governor Andrey Vorobyov. The death of a nine-year-old boy who Russian sources had listed among the injured has not been confirmed. AFP journalists in Ramenskoye reported that the drones that hit their target caused serious damage to the 10th to 12th floors of a 17-story apartment building, where the woman who was killed lived. The impact caused a large fire, which forced the building to be evacuated.
Regarding the four airports serving the capital Moscow, their precautionary closure was immediate, especially those with the greatest commercial traffic, namely Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo, where all morning flights were canceled. The regional governor of Bryansk Aleksandr Bogomaz, again via Telegram, declared: “The enemy carried out a massive terrorist attack but in our region there were no victims or damage and all attacks were repelled”. From a technical point of view, the drones used appear to be those of Turkish-Ukrainian construction equipped with an inertial navigation system (based on gyroscopes), which is less precise than those with a GPS satellite system, whose frequencies are disturbed by the Russian defense precisely to prevent their use by the enemy. On Monday, Moscow also announced the conquest of another Ukrainian village, Memryk, considered one of the places from which Kiev’s drones are launched towards Russian territories. Ukraine is also adding incendiary capabilities to its drone fleet.
The Ministry of Defense in Kiev posted videos on the X social media platform showing a drone dropping a small amount of molten metal on forest positions where Russian units might be hiding. They are called “dragon drones” and they carry a substance called thermite. The mixture is made of metal powder, most often aluminum, and powdered iron oxide or rust. Thermite is not explosive, but it generates heat at extreme temperatures, more than 2,200 degrees Celsius, which burns and damages almost any material that comes into contact with it or even near it, including clothing, trees and foliage, and vehicles, and can even burn underwater. The weapon is fatal on humans and, when it does not kill, can cause respiratory problems and psychological trauma. The use of thermites in last night’s attack has not been confirmed, but drones so equipped tend to fly low and, in addition to causing significant damage, are used by Ukrainian units in reconnaissance missions because they quickly clear vegetation, preventing the enemy from hiding. Some of these are believed to have been developed by the Ukrainian startup Steel Hornets (literally Steel Hornets), a private manufacturer of unmanned weapons systems that also uses commercial products with modifications. The company’s thermite offerings include a lightweight weapon that it claims can melt 4mm metal in less than 10 seconds. The U.S. military also makes thermite grenades, but while Washington is the largest supplier of weapons to Ukraine, it is unclear whether the U.S. is supplying Kiev with thermite weapons. The use of the weapon is among those for which the ban has been requested.
