At least 60,000 passengers had their flights delayed or canceled at airports across Russia as Ukraine unleashed large-scale drone attacks this week, according to a national tourism body.
Russia’s association of tour operators said in a statement on Wednesday that at least 350 flights were affected by the threat of drone strikes, including trips out of the country to destinations such as Istanbul and Dubai.
The affected facilities included Moscow’s four airports and air travel hubs in the regions of Sochi, Kazan, and Kirov, per the association. Its statement said many of the flights were delayed overnight, while some flights that did manage to depart had to wait up to seven hours.
Russian independent Telegram news channels posted photos of large crowds gathering in airports and stranded passengers resting in departure hall areas.
“This delay will provoke subsequent delays according to the domino principle,” the tourism operators’ association warned.
“The aviation infrastructure is working at its limit,” it added.
It advised travelers across the country to prepare for further disruption by bringing cash to buy food and drink at airports and taking a “small supply” of water with them.
The chaos comes as Russia is set to hold an annual Victory Day parade on May 9 that commemorates the Soviet Union’s role in ending World War II — a major source of national pride promoted by Moscow nowadays.
Russia says it’s expecting 29 world leaders to attend the parade, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who arrived on Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Kyiv has warned visiting leaders that it can’t guarantee their safety if they fly into Moscow, which has been harassed by Ukrainian drone strikes for years.
“We cannot be held responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reports on Saturday.
The week leading up to Russia’s Victory Day parade has seen Ukraine launch an intensified series of drone strikes over three consecutive days.
They appear to be ramping up in severity, with the Kremlin saying on Wednesday that it shot down 524 drones. Business Insider couldn’t independently verify that figure, but if accurate, it would record one of Ukraine’s largest drone attacks on Russian territory.
Oleksandr Kovalenko, a popular Ukrainian military observer, wrote on his Telegram channel that Wednesday involved the “most massive raid of Ukrainian attack drones” since the full-scale war began. However, he also accused Russian reports of overplaying the number of drones launched by Ukraine.
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, wrote in his Telegram channel that Russian forces had repelled at least 14 drone attacks on the capital on Wednesday. Emergency services were dispatched to several locations where debris had fallen, he added.
No casualties were reported as of press time.
Previous Ukrainian drone attacks have caused Moscow’s airports to close before, including a wave of strikes in September that shut three of the region’s four air travel hubs.
Russia also regularly attacks Ukrainian cities, primarily with ballistic missiles and Iranian-designed Shahed exploding drones. Most recently, Kyiv reported that a mother and son were killed during a missile and drone attack on Tuesday evening.
