Ukraine ‘Drone Strikes’ Force Russia to Stop GPS and Close Airports in Moscow

Key Points – In response to a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow this past weekend, Russian authorities temporarily shut down two major airports (Vnukovo and Domodedovo) and disabled GPS services in parts of the capital.

-This defensive measure, intended to thwart GPS-guided drones, caused significant disruption to civilian life, affecting everything from ride-sharing to delivery services.

-However, this tactic is likely ineffective, as Ukrainian drones increasingly use autonomous, pre-programmed targeting that does not rely on GPS in the terminal phase.

-The recurring airport shutdowns, now numbering over 200 in 2025, signal a new normal of disruption for Moscow residents.

Putin’s War in Ukraine Is Now in Moscow 

WARSAW, POLAND – This past weekend, two of Moscow’s major airports were shut down temporarily during a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian capital.

Russian officials stated that they had also shut down GPS systems in certain parts of the city in order to defeat any Ukrainian systems that might be using US-based satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) for terminal phase guidance of these drones.

Russian officials said that during this Ukrainian drone strike on Moscow, the air defenses around the capital had destroyed multiple Ukrainian drones flying toward the city.

Official statements about the attack came from the office of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin who had posted comments on the Telegram platform.  Russia’s Emergency Services (MChS) were working at the sites of the wreckage following the attacks, he also stated.

In the past, Moscow has been accused of not shutting down the GPS but instead jamming or disrupting the satellite system’s signals in regions like the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and the eastern Mediterranean.

In these cases, Russia jammed those signals but did not shut down all transmissions completely.

This practice has been used by the Russians in the past not to defend themselves against drone attacks but as an act designed to disrupt or shut down thousands of civilian commercial air flights.

But, in this case, the only activity that Moscow was trying to switch off was the signal that could be used for a Ukrainian drone to be directed at a Russian military target.

Here Come the Drones: Moscow Under Attack

This was not the first time that Russia had the experience of having to close its airports and airspace due to a Ukrainian drone attack.

From January to 10 May 2025, Russian airports were subject to emergency shutdowns for what is now a record number of 217 times, the one-time Russia-based and now in-exile Novaya Gazeta-Europe reported.

By comparison, there were 58 total airport closures in Russia due to these attacks in 2023 and 91 such incidents in 2024.

“To ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights, temporary restrictions on arrivals and departures have been introduced at Vnukovo and Domodedovo  airports,” according to an official statement on Sunday from the Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport. These restrictions were lifted later in the morning the same day.

Russian officials are now taking steps to guard against any GPS-guided drone attacks by temporarily turning off the satellite navigation system signals in certain districts inside the city as well as in the surrounding area.

GPS Services Cut Off

Shutting down satellite aids creates no end of other complications in a city as large as Moscow when so much of what happens inside the famous Moscow Automobile Ring Road (MKAD) that borders the city limits depends on navigation aids and internet map applications.

Drivers of all functions – Uber, taxis, delivery services, large lorries – all complain about interruptions of the GPS signal.  The transport department of the Russian city also announced this past weekend that road traffic has been suspended from Udaltsova Street and Leninsky Avenue to Mikhail Pevtsov Street in the southwest of Moscow.

That the GPS services have been shut down in this particular region of Moscow is no coincidence. This area of the Russian capital is home to some sensitive Russian government facilities, most notably the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) that is located in the forested suburb of Yasenevo.

There are other difficulties created by the GPS disruptions with almost any kind of internet-based business, as well as city emergency services.

“Dependency on the satellite navigation is kind of like the plumbing,” said a retired NATO intelligence officer who spoke with me.

“As long as it is working you do not really notice it and you take it for granted, but they if you shut it off suddenly there is hell to pay in some places.”

“You also have to remember that this kind of service being closed off is more for optics on the Russian side than anything else,” he continued.  “It is not likely to have much of an impact on the ability of the Ukrainians to conduct these attacks. The drones being used against Russian targets are increasingly equipped with autonomous, pre-programmed targeting – the kind that cannot be jammed and the kind that are dependent on satellite signals.”

“Russians had better get used to whatever kind of inconveniences that come with the sudden loss of a GPS signal anyway,” he said. “Ukraine shows no signs of slowing down these kinds of attacks.”

About the Author:

Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw.  He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design.  Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.

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