Turkish Airlines Flight Returns Amid Drone Attacks Near Moscow

Ankara, September 20 (Udaipur Kiran) : A Turkish Airlines flight en route from Istanbul to Moscow was forced to return to Istanbul on Sunday after entering Russian airspace. The decision came as Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack near the Russian capital. Flight TK407, operated by an Airbus A330-300, took off at 2:22 AM local time (Saturday 11:22 PM GMT).After approaching Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport, the aircraft turned back and landed safely in Istanbul. The incident caused significant disruptions, affecting at least 35 flights operated by Turkish Airlines to and from Vnukovo, as reported by the Xinhua news agency. This disruption occurred during a night of extensive drone assaults across Moscow and other regions. Moscow's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin stated that Russian air defense systems had intercepted over 1,600 drones nationwide, including approximately 450 heading towards the capital.The Russian Defense Ministry reported that in the past week, Russian forces conducted two major and five group attacks on Ukrainian defense plants, logistics centers, and infrastructure linked to energy and transport. Additionally, they claimed control over ten settlements during this period. The ministry further detailed that their air defense systems had downed 44 guided aerial bombs, eight HIMARS rockets, two Neptune long-range guided missiles, and 5,706 Ukrainian drones within the week.On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that the deployment of Western troops on Ukrainian soil would be considered a direct declaration of war by Russia. He emphasized that while Russia remains open to diplomatic solutions, any aggression from Europe would lead to a different kind of conflict.