Volgograd Airport closed due to drone threat

Rosaviatsia (Federal Air Transport Agency) has imposed temporary restrictions at Volgograd Airport, citing a threat to flight safety. A drone alert has been declared in the region.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," five people were injured in a drone attack in Volgograd on the night of November 29, three of whom were hospitalized. Fifty-seven residents of damaged high-rise buildings have been moved to temporary accommodation centers.

Rosaviatsia spokesman Artem Korenyako announced that Volgograd Airport is temporarily closed to both incoming and outgoing flights.

"The restrictions are necessary to ensure flight safety," he wrote on his Telegram channel at 11:29 p.m. Moscow time on December 3.

Shortly before, at 11:28 p.m. Moscow time, residents of the Volgograd region received messages from the RSCHS warning of a drone attack threat, according to the Telegram channel "Volgograd and Region News." Some readers of the channel noted that they weren't receiving the messages or that they were receiving them late.

"It's completely confusing. RSCHS text messages don't mention anything about the danger, but Telegram does. Who should we believe?" Nadezhda Spiridonova wondered. "Normally, messages arrive late. An air raid siren was just going off in the Krasnoarmeysky District, then a text message arrived," reported user 39111.

Drone attack threat alerts in the Volgograd Region have become daily, but actual drone sightings are not always preceded by a warning, local residents previously interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" stated.

According to the Volgograd Airport online board, the departure of a flight to Dubai, scheduled to depart at 11:20 p.m. Moscow time on December 3, is delayed. There is no information on the board about other flight delays, including arrivals.

Discussions about renaming Volgograd Airport "Stalingrad" have been active since the 1990s. However, the airport was renamed from "Gumrak" to "Stalingrad" only after Putin's intervention. On April 29, 2025, he declared his support for the initiative of the veterans and participants of the Second World War, signing a decree on the renaming that same day. However, some citizens strongly opposed the renaming, recalling that under Stalin, 250,000 Stalingrad residents were repressed.