Russian airports are experiencing an unprecedented crisis caused by drone attacks that have led to massive flight delays and cancellations. The situation is particularly critical in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where almost 100 flights have been cancelled and hundreds have been postponed indefinitely. Passengers, trapped by circumstances, are forced to spend long hours at airports, facing a lack of space, information, and basic amenities.

The worst situation is at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, where more than 170 flights have been delayed and about 50 have been cancelled. The terminals are overcrowded: arriving passengers mix with those who cannot leave the airport, creating a real crush. There are no free seats even in cafes and business lounges, people are forced to sit and lie on the floor. Some passengers report spending more than 9 hours at the airport without clear information about the fate of their flights. An even more dramatic situation is developing for those on board landed planes: they are not allowed to leave the cabins, and some report waiting for four hours without the opportunity to leave the plane.

In St. Petersburg, Pulkovo Airport is also at the epicenter of the crisis. More than 30 flights have been cancelled and about 100 have been rescheduled. The airport only recently resumed operations after a temporary suspension caused by another drone attack threat. One of the planes that had already taken off from Sheremetyevo to Pulkovo was forced to return to Moscow due to the closure of the airspace. Passengers are complaining about the lack of water, food and information, and chaos reigns in the terminal: queues at check-in desks and ticket offices for ticket exchanges stretch for tens of meters.

The problems affected not only the capital regions. Flight delays and cancellations were recorded at the airports of Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Volgograd and other cities.