Putin Trapped in His Plane Amid Massive Drone Attack

A Ukrainian drone attack disrupted airspace over Moscow on Friday, throwing a wrench into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to return from abroad.

Local media reports and a Flightradar tracker show four planes in the presidential Special Flight Squadron in a holding pattern during the attack, which prompted Russia’s aviation regulator to restrict flights at four major airports: Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky. The restrictions lasted six to seven hours, The Telegraph reported , and more than 370 flights were delayed and 62 canceled, according to pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Baza.

The plane that Putin, 74, had taken to Turkmenistan the day before was supposed to fly into Vnukovo Airport, according to The Sun , but is believed to have been forced to land in St. Petersburg, over 450 miles away. Tracking data showed the aircraft repeatedly circling over Moscow before apparently opting to play it safe and diverting to St. Petersburg.

The Kremlin has not issued a statement the effect of the Ukrainian attack on Putin’s travel. Putin was in Turkmenistan for a Commonwealth of Independent States summit on Thursday. Among the leaders he met with was Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Russian forces had shot down 15 Ukrainian drones during Friday’s attack.

Ukraine also struck Russian technology company Yandex, after having targeted another one of the company’s locations on Thursday, Reuters reported . Yandex, which has a leading role in Russia’s development of artificial intelligence, provides the country’s largest engine and ridesharing service, and offers cloud computing, streaming, and online shopping and food ordering.

Friday’s attack partly disabled Yandex’s data center southwest of Moscow, while Thursday’s assault shut down a facility to the capital’s southeast.

“We always respond in mirror-like fashion,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Thursday, as Russia targets data centers in Ukraine.

Also on Friday, Donald Trump announced a surprise deal with Putin for three million tons of Russian diesel, effectively lifting sanctions and aligning with Moscow in the war as Ukraine targets Russia’s oil refineries. The U.S. last imported Russian diesel in March 2022, but energy costs are now apparently enough of a problem for the Trump administration that it is poised to break that four-plus-year streak, even as the war continues.

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