On Tuesday night, Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport twice suspended all flights due to the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks. Other major airports imposed similar restrictions, resulting in some travelers spending hours stuck on planes after landing at their destinations. The chaos appeared likely to continue on Wednesday, with Russia’s largest airline, Aeroflot, issuing a statement warning passengers about possible upcoming cancellations and changes. Here’s how the situation has unfolded so far.

Russia’s flagship airline, Aeroflot, warned passengers on Wednesday of possible flight cancellations or consolidations due to temporary overnight airspace restrictions at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

The previous night, Sheremetyevo suspended all arrivals and departures twice in response to a potential Ukrainian drone threat. The restrictions were in effect from 1:00 to 4:07 a.m. Moscow time, and again from 4:25 to 5:30 a.m. As a result, numerous Aeroflot flights were delayed or diverted to alternate airports. Similar restrictions were imposed at other Moscow airports, including Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky.

Aeroflot said that “some flights may be subject to forced cancellations or consolidation” and advised travelers to check the departures board on its website for updates.

Update: Moscow’s Domodedovo, Zhukovsky, Vnukovo, and Sheremetyevo airports temporarily grounded flights at various times throughout the evening on Wednesday. Around 10:30 p.m. local time, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency reported that the Domodedovo, Zhukovsky, and Vnukovo airports had lifted restrictions, but Sheremetyevo didn’t resume flights until 11:25 p.m. Earlier in the evening, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported that Russian air defenses had shot down seven Ukrainian drones headed towards the capital in the space of half an hour.

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Rossiya Airlines, a member of the Aeroflot Group, issued a similar statement. It said that due to restrictions at Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, and Nizhny Novgorod airports, some flights would be delayed or rerouted, and warned of possible cancellations or consolidations.

According to Aeroflot’s online schedule, the airline canceled 52 outbound flights and 54 arrivals in Moscow on Wednesday, state media reported. A total of more than 140 flights to and from the capital were delayed. Affected flights included Aeroflot departures from Sheremetyevo and Rossiya flights from Vnukovo.

Pobeda Airlines, Aeroflot’s low-cost subsidiary, also reported that it was “forced to cancel some flights on May 6 and 7” due to the restrictions. The airline warned passengers to expect delays and potential rerouting to alternate airfields.

The Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Moskva reported long lines at Sheremetyevo’s information desks on Wednesday, as passengers sought updates and attempted to rebook their flights or get a refund. At Vnukovo, dozens of flights were rescheduled and around 50 were canceled. The channel noted that some travelers had been waiting since Tuesday, spending hours in the terminal. “People are sleeping in decorative areas of the airport and sitting on their suitcases in line,” one post read.

Several inbound flights were diverted to Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg. According to the Telegram channel Baza, passengers on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Domodedovo were held on the plane for six hours after landing in Pulkovo before being told they would need to make their own way to Moscow. Travelers on a flight from Antalya to Moscow told Ostorozhno, Novosti that they had waited more than seven hours on board after arriving in St. Petersburg. Baza also reported that passengers on Uzbekistan Airways’s Tashkent–Moscow flight and Aeroflot’s Chelyabinsk–Moscow flight, both diverted to Pulkovo, spent the night aboard their planes.

Additionally, Baza wrote that an Aeroflot flight from Dubai to Sheremetyevo was diverted to Kazan. According to passengers, the captain announced mid-flight that the diversion was due to the activation of the “Kovyor” emergency protocol — a procedure for when an unidentified object is detected in the air — at Sheremetyevo and that the plane would land in Kazan to refuel. After landing, the aircraft remained on the tarmac for two hours. The captain later told passengers they would be taken to a hotel “for an indefinite period,” but eyewitnesses said they were ultimately left in the airport’s waiting area.

According to the Northwestern Transport Prosecutor’s Office, 74 aircraft were diverted to Pulkovo.

Between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin issued several statements saying that Ukrainian drone attacks on the capital had been repelled. In addition to the Moscow airports, overnight restrictions were also imposed at airports in Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, and Kirov. Ukrainian drones also targeted the Mordovia, Tula, and Yaroslavl regions overnight.

Russia’s Association of Tour Operators reported on Wednesday that the delays and closures had so far affected at least 350 flights and altered the plans of approximately 60,000 passengers, including many on popular connecting routes through Istanbul and Dubai.

Ukraine’s largest-ever drone attack against Russia triggered hours of travel chaos late Tuesday and early Wednesday, with repeated airport closures in Moscow and its surrounding regions.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed 524 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, making it the largest wave of drone attacks since President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The military also reported destroying several rockets.

Amid the air assault, civil aviation authorities temporarily grounded flights at Moscow’s Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports, as well as in the cities of Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Yaroslavl, Kazan and others, warning of possible cancellations.

“The restrictions were imposed to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights,” said Artyom Korenyako, a spokesperson for Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency.

Major airlines, including Aeroflot, Pobeda and S7, told passengers to expect disruptions as they canceled hundreds of flights for Tuesday and Wednesday. S7 promised to issue a full refund for passengers with canceled flights or exchange tickets for other flights if there are available seats.

Moscow’s four major airports struggled to return to normal operations Thursday, a day after Ukraine’s largest-ever drone attack triggered widespread travel disruptions, Russian transportation authorities said.

At least 60,000 travelers were impacted by some 350 flight delays and cancellations at airports across the country, according to Russia’s Association of Tour Operators. Russia’s military said it downed 524 Ukrainian drones, forcing civil aviation authorities to temporarily ground flights.

“Planes that didn’t arrive at their destination on time will be late for other flights,” the Association of Tour Operators said. “This delay will trigger the next delays like a domino effect.”

Some passengers reported delays of more than 30 hours. In total, around 12% of all flights in and out of the Russian capital were canceled on Wednesday.

On the night of May 6, amid a massive attack by Ukrainian drones, temporary flight restrictions were imposed at 13 Russian airports. At 00:57 Moscow time, three major airports in the capital—Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky—stopped accepting and departing aircraft, reported Rosaviation representative Artem Korenyako. At 1:15, Sheremetyevo Airport suspended operations. At the same time, restrictive measures were introduced at airports in Kaluga, Volgograd, and Saratov.

At 2:00 Moscow time, Samara’s airport operations were limited, followed by those in Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, and Yaroslavl. At 5:40 Moscow time, Kazan and Nizhnekamsk airports temporarily halted arrivals and departures. However, by 5 a.m., airports in Saratov, Volgograd, and the Moscow region resumed operations. By 6 a.m. Moscow time, airports in Samara, Ivanovo, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod, and Yaroslavl returned to their normal operations. During the restrictions, 34 aircraft were sent to backup airfields in Moscow, while three were redirected to regional airfields, Korenyako noted.

Previously, the most airports in Russia were shut down due to a drone attack threat on January 24. That night, flights were temporarily halted at 10 airports in the Moscow region, as well as in Kazan, Nizhnekamsk, Penza, Samara, Saratov, and Ulyanovsk.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense’s report, on the night of May 6, 105 Ukrainian drones were shot down over 11 regions. The largest number of drones was destroyed over Bryansk region—32. Another 22 drones were intercepted over Voronezh region, 19 over the Moscow region, 10 over Penza region, 9 over Kaluga, and 6 over Belgorod. Additionally, two drones were downed over Lipetsk and Samara regions, and one each over Vladimir, Kursk, and Rostov regions.

Nine other regional Russian airports also temporarily stopped operating as drones struck areas along the border with Ukraine and deeper inside Russia, according to Russia’s civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, and the Defence Ministry on Tuesday.

It was the second straight night that the Moscow region reportedly was targeted.

A paramedic gives first aid to a wounded soldier at the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine (Andriy Andriyenko/AP)

Two people were injured in the Kursk region, according to local governor Alexander Khinshtein, and some damage was reported in the Voronezh region.

The Russian reports could not be independently verified.

The drone assault comes two days ahead of a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in the more than three-year war announced by President Vladimir Putin to coincide with celebrations in Moscow marking Victory Day in the Second World War.

The day celebrating Moscow’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 is Russia’s biggest secular holiday when foreign dignitaries will gather in the Russian capital.

Meanwhile, Russian forces overnight fired at least 20 Shahed drones at Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city near the border with Russia, injuring four people, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

The drones started a fire at the biggest market in Kharkiv, Barabashovo, destroying and damaging around 100 market stalls, he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin looks at the paper as he listens to Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin during their meeting at the Kremlin (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/AP)

Seven more civilians were injured elsewhere in the Kharkiv region by Russian glide bombs and drones, Mr Syniehubov said.

Mr Putin last week declared a brief unilateral truce “on humanitarian grounds” from May 8.

Ukraine has called for a longer ceasefire.

Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by insisting on far-reaching conditions.

Ukraine has accepted it the proposal, President Volodymyr Zelensky says.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday at the White House that the brief truce “doesn’t sound like much, but it’s… a lot if you knew where we started from”.

Foreign leaders who have confirmed their attendance at the Victory Day festivities in Moscow include China’s President Xi Jinping, described by Mr Putin as “our main guest”.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, another top ally whom Mr Putin has courted, had been expected in Moscow but he cancelled his trip amid tensions with Pakistan.

Other guests include Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has openly challenged the European Union’s policies over Ukraine.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic also has accepted an invitation, his first trip to Russia since the invasion, but his attendance was uncertain after he became ill.