MOSCOW (Reuters) – The airport in the Russian city of Kazan reopened on Saturday after being temporarily closed earlier in the day following a Ukrainian drone attack, Russia’s aviation regulator said.
Russian state news agencies reported the drone attack on an apartment complex and other areas in Kazan, about 800 km east of Moscow.
The Defense Ministry said the city was attacked by three waves of drones between 7:40 and 9:20 a.m. (04:40 and 06:20 GMT). It said three drones were destroyed by air defense systems and three others by electronic warfare systems.
No injuries were reported, authorities said, citing local authorities. Kazan’s mayor said on Telegram that all planned mass events in the city over the weekend would be canceled and that authorities would offer temporary housing to evacuees.
The broadcaster Baza Telegram, which is close to the Russian security services, published unconfirmed video footage showing an airborne object hitting a high-rise building, creating a large fireball.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the attack and said Ukraine was “taking out its impotent anger over real military defeats on the peaceful people of Russia.”
Airports in Izhevsk, a smaller city northeast of Kazan, and Saratov, about 400 miles (650 km) south of Kazan, also temporarily suspended arrivals and departures of flights, Russian aviation regulator Rosaviatsia said via Telegram.
The restrictions at the airports were later lifted, Rosaviatsia said.
