Gelendzhik and Sochi airports closed amid drone threat

Rosaviatsia has temporarily closed the airports of Gelendzhik and Sochi to aircraft, and authorities in the Krasnodar Territory have announced a threat of drone attacks.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," restrictions on aircraft arrivals and departures were imposed at Volgograd Airport last night, and Astrakhan Airport was also closed to aircraft. This morning, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that seven drones were shot down over the Rostov Region, and four over the Volgograd Region.

Rosaviatsia spokesman Artem Korenyako announced restrictions on the operation of two airports in Kuban today. According to his publication, Gelendzhik and Sochi airports are not receiving or sending aircraft. "Restrictions are necessary to ensure flight safety," he wrote on his Telegram channel at 10:38 PM Moscow time.

According to the Sochi airport's online flight board as of 11:26 PM Moscow time, two flights to Perm and two to Moscow were delayed, as were one each to Mineralnye Vody, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Kurgan, and Nizhnevartovsk, as well as to Istanbul and Phuket. Flights from Moscow and Nizhnekamsk were also delayed. In Gelendzhik, according to the online flight board, no flights were scheduled after 8:00 PM Moscow time today.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations issued information about the drone threat in the Krasnodar Krai at 10:03 PM Moscow time, with local warnings issued for Anapa, Tuapse, Novorossiysk, and Sochi. Sochi Mayor Andrei Proshunin reminded residents on his Telegram channel about the ban on filming air defense systems.

Earlier in the evening, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that 11 drones were destroyed over the Black Sea in two hours, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Moscow time.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that on September 24, people in Sochi, Gelendzhik, and the Tuapse district were ordered to leave beaches and embankments due to the threat of drone attacks from the sea and air. In Sochi, some vacationers returned to the sea, despite the fact that the threat of drone attacks had not been cancelled. Social media users called this behavior reckless. Following the attack by UAVs and unmanned boats (UBF) on Novorossiysk and Tuapse on September 24, two people were killed and another 14 were injured.

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