Russia suspended flights across 13 southern airports after drones hit an air navigation facility in Rostov-on-Don, as Kyiv said Moscow had continued attacks despite its own Victory Day ceasefire declaration.
Russia temporarily suspended operations at 13 airports in the south of the country on Friday after drones struck an administrative building used by the regional air navigation service in Rostov-on-Don.
The Russian Ministry of Transport said the regional centre responsible for managing air traffic across southern Russia had adjusted its operations after what it described as Ukrainian drones hit the administrative building of the Southern Russia Air Navigation branch. The ministry said staff were safe, but that specialists were checking the condition of equipment and revising air traffic control procedures. Operations were halted at airports in Astrakhan, Vladikavkaz, Volgograd, Gelendzhik, Grozny, Krasnodar, Makhachkala, Magas, Mineralnye Vody, Nalchik, Sochi, Stavropol and Elista.
The strike came during a disputed ceasefire period around Russia’s Victory Day commemorations. Moscow had announced a temporary pause for 8–10 May, tied to the annual events marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Kyiv, however, said Russia had already ignored an earlier Ukrainian ceasefire proposal that began at midnight on 6 May and was intended to open the way to a broader halt in hostilities. EU Today reported that Ukrainian officials accused Russia of continuing drone and missile attacks after Kyiv’s initiative came into force.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday morning that Russia had also violated its own declared pause. He said that, as of 7am, Ukrainian forces had recorded more than 140 shelling incidents against front-line positions, 10 Russian assault actions overnight, and more than 850 drone strikes involving FPV drones, Lancet loitering munitions and other systems. Zelenskyy said there had not been “even a token attempt” by Russia to cease fire along the front. The reported violations were concentrated in several areas, with the Sloviansk direction seeing the highest number of assault actions, according to Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine would respond “in a mirror-like manner” and would continue to defend its positions and civilians. The statement followed several days of competing truce proposals. Ukraine’s ceasefire offer was announced first, to begin on 6 May, while Russia’s later declaration covered the Victory Day period. Moscow did not accept Kyiv’s proposal. Ukraine says Russian forces continued attacks after both announcements.
The Rostov strike therefore took place against a background in which the two ceasefire initiatives were not equivalent. Kyiv had proposed an earlier pause that it said could support a longer ceasefire if reciprocated. Russia ignored that proposal, then announced a shorter truce connected to its commemorations in Moscow. According to Ukraine, Russian forces then continued attacks even during the period Moscow itself had declared.
The hit on the Rostov air navigation building was significant because the facility is connected to civil aviation management across a wide area of southern Russia. A disruption to air traffic control infrastructure does not have to destroy equipment to affect airport operations. Communications, surveillance, power supply and procedural systems may all require checks before flights can resume safely.
Russian authorities treated the incident as a regional aviation safety issue rather than a localised strike. Rosaviatsiya, airlines and airport operators were reported to be adjusting flight schedules while technical assessments continued. The temporary closure of 13 airports showed how a single strike on a control facility can have consequences across a wider transport network.
Rostov-on-Don has also held wider importance since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The city is a major southern hub and has been linked to military logistics, command structures and transport routes supporting Russian operations. Civil aviation restrictions in the region therefore carry both practical and symbolic weight.
The mayor of Rostov-on-Don, Alexander Skryabin, said an extraordinary meeting of the city’s emergency commission had been held after the incident. A local state of emergency was introduced in the Zheleznodorozhny district, where damage was reported after a drone came down.
The disruption followed a wider wave of drone activity inside Russia. Moscow said it had intercepted large numbers of Ukrainian drones in the days before Victory Day, including drones approaching the capital. Russian air travel had already faced disruption as security measures were tightened ahead of the commemorations.
Ukraine has increasingly used long-range drones to target Russian oil, military and transport-related infrastructure. Kyiv describes such attacks as pressure on systems that support Russia’s war effort. Zelenskyy has referred to these operations as “long-range sanctions”, a phrase used again after reports of a strike on an oil facility in Yaroslavl on 8 May.
For Russia, the Rostov incident exposed the vulnerability of infrastructure needed to maintain civilian air traffic across its southern regions. For Ukraine, it demonstrated the reach of its drone campaign at a time when Russian forces were continuing to attack Ukrainian positions and front-line communities despite Moscow’s own ceasefire announcement.
