Ukraine Has Brought Russian Air Operations To A Standstill

Thousands of flights have been canceled.

Russian airports were closed 993 times in August due to the threat of Ukrainian drones. On average, restrictions were imposed 32 times per day. For Russian civil aviation, this was the toughest month since the start of the full-scale war, according to Euronews.

In August, disruptions affected 32 airports, including those in Moscow and St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo. Over the three summer months, 2,182 closures were recorded—more than in all of 2025. According to experts’ estimates, the August figure was more than six times higher than last year’s average monthly number of closures.

Due to the threat of drones, Russia is implementing the “Kover” protocol, which requires the temporary suspension or rerouting of civilian flights.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned airlines and insurers that Russian airspace is becoming increasingly unsafe. “The days of safety in Russian airspace are over,” he said on September 1.

At the same time, Kyiv maintains that it does not aim to shoot down passenger planes. “Ukraine does not seek to shoot down civilian aircraft, but it is making Russian airspace unsafe for flights,” said former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk.

“The consequences are already noticeable for passengers. During the first three days of September, an average of 86 flights per day were canceled in Russia. On the most difficult nights in the Moscow area, there were up to a hundred delayed and canceled departures,” the authors write.

Amid these challenges, some foreign carriers are changing their routes or scaling back their operations. Passenger traffic between Moscow and St. Petersburg has declined by 20–23%, while demand for rail travel has increased by about 20%.

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