UPDATE 8:39 PM EDT -- NOW 17 PLANES -- 12 Military Planes Leaving Moscow toward Ural Mountains

Something is happening in Moscow, Russia.  As I write this story it is 8:16 PM Saturday evening on 24 May 2025.  That translates to 3:16 AM in Moscow, Russia.

For the past hour, Russian military aircraft have begun ferrying people out of Moscow.  There are not fighter jets or cargo planes; they're Executive jets designed to comfortably carry passengers.

All the aircraft are headed east - toward the Ural Mountains.  

Eight planes are shown in the image above.  Four more in the image below:

Why is Moscow evacuating people starting at 2:00 in the morning, their time, on a Saturday night-into-Sunday morning????

UPDATE 8:39 PM EDT --

Five more military planes have now taken off from Moscow, bringing the total to 17 planes.

Airframe list:

Russian AF: 

An-148-100E RA-61723 #14F11B

An-148-100E RA-61724 #14F11C

Tu-214 RF-64519 #14FC07

Tu-214PU-SBUS comms unit RF-64530 #14FC12

Tu-134A-3 RA-65689 #150099

Tu-134B-3 RA-65733 #1500C5

Tu-134A-3 RA-65992 #1501C8

Tu-154M RA-85686 #154EB6

Il-62M RA-86539 #15520B

Il-62M RA-86559 #15521F

223rd Flight Unit State Airline:

IL-76MD RA-78847 #1533FF

Il-76MD RA-78850 #153402

Tu-154M RA-85123 #154C83

Tu-154B-2 RA-85426 #154DB2

Tu-154B-2 RA-85563 #149C77

Tu-154B-2 RA-85586 #154E52

Roscosmos:

Tu-154M RA-85655 #194E97