Ukrainian Drone Attacks Strand Over 370 Flights in Moscow

(MOSCOW, RUSSIA) – More than 370 flights were delayed or cancelled at Moscow’s terminals as Ukrainian drones forced the second consecutive night of airspace closures over Moscow and St Petersburg, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.

The airspace over both cities was completely closed due to a series of drone attacks, although Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsia did not name the real reason for the flight suspensions, limiting itself to bureaucratic phrasing about measures to ensure safety.

Around midnight, operations at Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports were suspended, while Sheremetyevo once again saw the worst of the chaos.

Hundreds of passengers who had planned comfortable flights were forced to spend the night on the floors of the terminals.

An equally dramatic scene unfolded in St Petersburg. Pulkovo Airport went into panic mode and closed the airspace to both arriving and departing flights while staff directed passengers to take shelter in safe places.

Planes circled in the air for hours, burning through remaining fuel supplies before being diverted to alternate airports in neighbouring regions, creating a chain reaction across the country.

The disruption comes as Russia is in the middle of a fuel crisis.

For Russian passengers, the ordeal often does not end when flights resume. Reports from the border indicate that some citizens attempting to leave the country are being handed summonses at passport control.

In one case, a Russian woman was in tears before boarding after her husband was handed a summons at passport control instead of taking their planned flight to Paris. Border guards explained that instead of the French capital, a trench near Pskov awaited him.

The footage was broadcast by TVP World in its Break the Fake programme, which tracks Russian disinformation and the impact of the war on Russian society.

While the Kremlin continues to present Russia as a military superpower with impenetrable air defences, its civil aviation has been forced onto a schedule dictated by Ukrainian drones.