‘Drone attack’ at airport in western Russia: Regional governor says Putin’s military is repelling assault in city of Pskov near Estonian border

Drones are believed to have been used to attack an airport in western Russia just 20 miles from the border of NATO member Estonia.

Videos shared on social media appear to show explosions at Pskov Airport in western Russia, a short distance from the neighbouring Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to the south are all NATO member states. Early reports on social media suggested that Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged in the blasts.

Russian state news agency TASS later confirmed that four of the IL-76 planes had been damaged. 

Footage filmed from around two kilometres (1.2 miles) away shows explosions lighting up the sky; videos believed to have been filmed later show huge fires burning.

Russian officials have claimed that the attack is being conducted using drones; regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said in a statement that defence forces were ‘repelling a drone attack’.

He shared the message, along with video footage of a burning fire in Pskov, on his personal channel on the messaging app Telegram.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Pskov Airport – around 500 miles north of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, operates as both a military and commercial airfield.

Ukraine has launched a number of offences on military targets inside Russia in recent days, including a bombardment of the Shaykovka airfield south-west of Moscow.

The bombardment came during what may have been the busiest night of Ukrainian attacks on Russia and Russian-held territory during the war.

Two major Moscow international airports – Vnukovo and Domodedovo – were closed, leading to significant disruption for incoming and outgoing planes.

Russian air defences were also in action in Tula region, south of the capital, which borders Kaluga region amid suspected drone attacks.

Separately, a record 42 Ukrainian drones were aimed at annexed Black Sea peninsula Crimea, according to Russian sources.

Nine were shot down, and 33 suppressed by electronic warfare means, said the Russian defence ministry.

There was no independent evidence on the consequences of the mass drone attack.

It followed an audacious special forces raid which raised a Ukrainian flag on annexed Crimea after an attack on Russian positions.

‘An entire division was destroyed on Cape Tarkhankut in temporarily occupied Crimea,’ said Ukraine’s Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov.