Travellers in Russia faced massive disruption to flights on Sunday, following drone alerts. Thousands of passengers were left stranded at airports across the country, as hundreds of flights were either cancelled or delayed.
Video images posted to social media channels show one airport chock-a-block with people, as they wait for further news. Some can be seen sitting and lying on the floor, with nowhere to go and no free seating available in either cafes or business lounges. Passengers were also not allowed to disembark their flights as a lockdown was imposed by officials.
Several said they had been waiting for over four hours on board their planes, with staff unable to tell them when they would be allowed to get off.
One of the worst affected airports was Sheremetyevo in Moscow, where over 170 flights were delayed and almost 50 cancelled.
Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport also descended into chaos, as over 30 flights were cancelled and some 100 delayed.
Other airports affected by the chaos include Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad.
The travel chaos comes as Ukraine launched another mass wave of drone attacks across Russia over the weekend.
Explosions were reported by local residents in the Voronezh and Saratov regions, as well as in the Chuvash Republic.
Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed it had targeted Borisoglebsk airfield in the Voronezh region.
The air base is home to a Su-34, Su-35S, and Su-30SM fighter jets and has previously one under attack.
The full extent of damage has yet to be fully established, but so far it was confirmed that a warehouse with guided aerial bombs was hit, as well as a combat training aircraft.
Meanwhile, video footage shows the spectacular moment a UAV hit a Wildberries warehouse in the Chuvash Republic, suspected of being a drone production line.
Images show the drone approaching its target before crashing into the building in Cheboksary, whereupon a ball of flames erupts skywards.
The city is located some 1,000 kilometres from the Russia – Ukraine border on the Volga River.