Ukrainian drone attack on Russia leads to almost 2,000 flights being delayed

The transport collapse at Russian airports, which began on the night of 4-5 July due to attacks by Ukrainian drones, has led to the delay of nearly 2,000 flights by the morning of 7 July.

Source: Radio Liberty

Details: "About 500 flights were canceled. 88 flights were diverted to alternate airports. The restrictions primarily affected Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, St Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport and Nizhny Novgorod's Chkalov Airport," the report said.

The Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya) states that in the first half of the day on 7 July, the airports returned to normal operation and that Russia's air transport system "demonstrated resistance to external interference in its work".

"Despite the statement about stabilisation, delays continued on the morning of 7 July. At Sheremetyevo, more than 40 flights did not depart on time. According to eyewitnesses, there are many passengers waiting for departure at the airport," Radio Liberty reports.

At Pulkovo, more than a hundred flights were delayed, and eight more were cancelled. The airport plans to stabilise the schedule by the end of Monday, with some flights rescheduled for Tuesday. Schedule disruptions were also reported in Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg.

Background:

• It was reported that two days of transport chaos would cost Russian airlines several tens of billions of roubles. According to estimates by airlines and experts, the first 24 hours of flight cancellations at three airports due to the attack by Ukrainian drones cost airlines at least 3.9-5.9 billion roubles (about US$49 million), based on open data.
• On 5 July, due to the danger of drone attacks in Russia, some flights at airports were reportedly cancelled. This caused a collapse at airports, and it became necessary to adjust all schedules. Subsequently, the Russian authorities claimed that 120 Ukrainian drones were destroyed on the night of 5-6 July.
• From January to May 2025, Russian airports suspended operations at least 217 times due to the threat of drone attacks. On average, flights were cancelled twice a day. Such disruptions could cost airlines at least one billion roubles (about US$11 million).
• Russian airlines' Boeing and Airbus aircraft were "held together with tape and good will". 

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