About 200 flights were canceled or delayed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports, according to the online scoreboard of the airports.
Sheremetyevo, in particular, canceled flights on February 24 to Anapa, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol, Makhachkala, Sochi, Voronezh, Hurghada, Volgograd, Belgorod, Stavropol, Krasnodar, Astrakhan, Prague, Ulyanovsk. The reasons for the cancellation are not disclosed.
Earlier, the Federal Air Transport Agency issued a message about the suspension of 11 airports in the south and west of the country until March 2. The list includes Rostov (Platov), Krasnodar (Pashkovsky), Anapa (Vityazevo), Gelendzhik, Elista, Stavropol, Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Voronezh, Simferopol.
This morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during an emergency appeal to the Russians, announced the beginning of a special military operation in the Donbass. He said that Russia’s plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territory. The Russian Defense Ministry stressed that nothing threatens the civilian population of Ukraine.