Explosion in the moscow city center: a drone was reportedly shot down (PHOTO, VIDEO)

An explosion sounded in the center of moscow on the night of August 18, with russian authorities reporting a Ukrainian drone being shot down. This was reported by russian media.

The drone was destroyed by air defense forces as it attempted to fly towards moscow. Its debris fell in the area near the Expocenter, as stated in the report.

Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin informed in his Telegram channel that there were "no significant destruction or casualties, according to preliminary information".

"A Ukrainian UAV attempted to target objects in Moscow. It was struck by our air defense system and crashed in the area of Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment in the capital", - a later statement mentioned. "The Russian Ministry of Defense reported no casualties or fires".

The airspace around Vnukovo Airport was temporarily closed, leading to delays in departures and arrivals, as reported by aviation services.

Later, the airspace over the moscow aviation hub was reopened for aircraft.

It was previously reported that on August 11, the sky over Vnukovo Airport was closed as well due to information about a drone heading towards moscow.