Thousands of travellers were left stranded at airports around Moscow, after flights were suspended due to drone attacks. Russia’s capital and its corresponding region were targeted by a swarm of Ukrainian drones on Tuesday.
Flight restrictions were imposed at the capital’s four major airports – Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky. In total 62 flights were cancelled and 52 planes were delayed for more than two hours, according to Rosaviatsiya. Another 55 were diverted to other airports during the emergency lockdown.
A video posted to social media channels shows a massive queue of passengers outside one of the capital’s airports.
Ural Airlines was one of the companies affected by the temporary airport closures and issued a statement warning passengers to expect disruption to flights.
“In connection with the introduction of temporary restrictions at Moscow airports, Ural Airlines is making changes to its flight schedule on May 28,” a statement from the company said.
Flights from Domodedovo to Bishkek, Osh and Yerevan and from Zhukovsky to Dushanbe were cancelled.
Five planes flying to Domodedovo and Zhukovsky from Fergana, Dushanbe, Urgench, Yerevan and Sochi were forced to land at an alternate airfield in Nizhny Novgorod due to the closure of airspace.
Departures of 14 flights are delayed, including from and to Yekaterinburg, to Omsk and back, to Osh, Grozny, Samarkand, Fergana, Khujand.
Restrictions were also introduced at the airports of Kaluga, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Kostroma and Vladimir.
Russian air passengers have had to put up with numerous cancellations and delays, as Ukraine steps up its aerial bombardment of the country.
A major attack in the first week of May led to 350 flight delays and cancellations at airports across the country, impacting at least 60,000 travellers.
Ukraine targeted a production plant in the Moscow region producing drones for Putin’s army.
Video images captured the moment the Ukrainian drone dived bombed the plant in Dubna, located some 329 miles from Ukraine and some 70 miles north of Moscow.
