Ukraine has launched some of the biggest ever drone attacks on Russia that has caused disruptions of civil aviation across the country on May 22.

Traffic controllers were forced to close domestic Russian airspace to its own flights across vast swathes of southern Russia, suspending or rerouting flights due to the intensity of Ukrainian drone activity, according to flight tracking data.

Flightradar24 reported that full civilian airspace closures have been implemented over eleven Russian regions: Bryansk, Kaluga, Tula, Oryol, Kursk, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Belgorod, Rostov, Krasnodar and the Republic of Adygeja. Partial airspace restrictions are also in effect in Smolensk, Stavropol, Volgograd and Tambov.

The resulting disruption has forced most aircraft travelling to or from Moscow and southern Russia to avoid Ukrainian and western border airspace entirely. Flights are now diverting over the Astrakhan region and the Caspian Sea. “The bulk of planes going or leaving Moscow into the South have to make a wide berth from Ukraine, converging over the Astrakhan area and the Caspian Sea,” Flightradar24 noted.

The affected area covers an estimated 540,000 square kilometres, representing one of the largest peacetime restrictions of Russian civilian airspace since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

The onslaught of drones appears to be part of a new strategy that will bring the war home to regular Russian by disrupting travel around the vast country that covers 11 time zones. For most of the last three years, Putin has been careful to shield regular Russians from the effects of the war in order to nip any potential protests in the bud.

Now drones attacks have forced at least 217 airport closures since January 1, Novaya Gazeta reports citing Russia's state aviation agency Rosaviatsia – more than all the forced closures in 2023 and 2024 combined.

The last time Ukraine ramped up its drone strikes was in the days leading up the Victory Day parage on May 9, which brough many foreign dignitaries to Moscow. Those attacks also threw Russia’s civil aviation into chaos and saw some 60,000 Russian stranded at airports across the country after dozens of flights were cancelled or rerouted.

The situation remains fluid. Analysts warn that further escalation could impact even these adjusted flight corridors. “If Ukrainian drones would start entering this area, then it would further complicate this situation,” the German Tendar Telegram channel noted, commenting on the disruptions.

There has been no official comment from Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya), though previous drone incursions over Russian territory have triggered temporary airport closures and flight delays in major cities.

The disruptions underscore the growing reach of Ukraine’s capabilities in the drone war. Ukraine has massively scaled up its domestic production of drones as well as extending their range to be able to reach deep into Russian territory. Russia has recently intensified its missile barrage on Ukraine as ceasefire negotiations get under way, only to see Ukraine respond with swarms of drone attacks inside Russian territory.