At the beginning of June, small civil aircraft will be completely banned from flying over Moscow at altitudes below 5100 meters. The ban applies to the western border with Belarus, the border with the Saint Petersburg airspace in the north, and the border with the Ekaterinburg and Samara airspace.
The prohibition will not apply to scheduled and charter flights, medical assistance and evacuation flights, aircrafts performing aerial chemical works, monitoring of pipelines and electric lines, and aerial works based on government contracts.
The duration of the ban is not yet known, according to Meduza. Operational notifications to pilots are expected to be transmitted soon.
Since the outbreak of the First World War in 2022, eight airports in southern Russia, from Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Simferopol, have been permanently closed. The other airports, including four in Moscow and Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg, are periodically forced to suspend operations due to the constant attacks of Ukrainian drones.