Dozens of flights delayed at Russia's Sochi airport following reported drone attacks
Flights were heavily delayed on Aug. 9 at Sochi Airport in Russia's Krasnodar Krai, amid reports of drone attacks in the region.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Aug. 9 that air defenses had shot down 10 drones over Krasnodar Krai.
Russia frequently shuts down airspace over its cities in response to Ukrainian drone attacks, though Kyiv typically refrains from commenting on such operations.
Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency, also known as Rosaviatsiya, closed the airspace over Sochi twice on Aug. 8, with restrictions continuing the next day.
By the morning of Aug. 9, 57 flights had been delayed and another one had been canceled, according to independent outlet Meduza, citing data from a flight-tracking app.
Flight delays lasted for several hours, leading to large crowds forming at Sochi Airport.
The disruption also affected airports in Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Novokuznetsk, and Norilsk, according to the West Siberian Transport Prosecutor's Office, which reported that around 1,000 passengers were left waiting for their flights.
In July, nearly every day of the month, at least one operating Russian airport was temporarily shut down.
"This hits the morale of the Russian people," Ivan Stupak, a military commentator and former officer of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), told the Kyiv Independent.
"They're used to seeing the war only through YouTube — so they just turn off YouTube, and suddenly it feels like the war is not real. But with what we're doing, we're sending a clear message — the war is very real, and your comfort lies in our hands."
According to Stupak, Ukraine designs drone flight paths to pass within 100–150 kilometers (62 to 93 miles) of major airports, forcing Russian air traffic controllers to activate emergency protocols.
