Major Ukrainian drone attacks sow chaos at Moscow’s airports

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Major Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia sowed chaos at major airports serving Moscow on Monday, with thousands of passengers waiting in lines or sleeping on the floor after flights were cancelled or delayed, Russian media reported.

Videos published by Russian media showed people sleeping on the floor of Sheremetyevo, Russia’s busiest airport by passenger numbers, amid long queues.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had downed 117 drones overnight, including 30 over the Moscow region, after downing 172 drones, including 30 over the Moscow region, the previous day.

Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, briefly imposed restrictions on flights overnight at Moscow’s main airports – Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovskiy.

Several thousand people were stranded in the far east of Russia due to the cancellation of flights in European Russia, while extra trains were put on to bring passengers back to Moscow from the northern Russian city of St Petersburg, Russian media said.

Moscow and its surrounding region has a population of at least 21.5 million.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)