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Posted on 05/12/2026 4:45:29 AM PDT by Cronos
More than a dozen airports across southern Russia suspended operations on Friday morning, while hundreds of flights were either cancelled or delayed after a Ukrainian drone crashed into the air traffic control center for the region, transportation authorities said.
The strike damaged equipment at the control center in Rostov-on-Don, which manages aviation for southern Russia, the Transportation Ministry said. No one was reported injured, but the attack forced the center to suspend work.
As a result, airports in southern Russia halted operations, including in the cities of Astrakhan, Vladikavkaz, Volgograd, Gelendzhik, Grozny, Krasnodar, Makhachkala, Magas, Mineralnye Vody, Nalchik, Sochi, Stavropol and Elista.
Aeroflot, Pobeda, Nordwind and Rossiya Airlines said they were adjusting their flight schedules for Friday and would need to cancel some flights. At least 14,000 passengers were stuck due to delays and cancellations, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia said.
Russia’s Transportation Minister Andrey Nikitin asked major airlines to coordinate with the state-owned Russian Railways and the Unified Transportation Directorate to arrange for trains and buses to transfer passengers from canceled flights.
The civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, initially issued a notice that flights in southern Russia could be suspended until May 12. The notice was rescinded later on Friday.
More than 260 Ukrainian drones were intercepted across Russia early Friday, the Defense Ministry said, with officials reporting that some of the unmanned aircraft struck industrial sites as far as the Perm region in the Ural Mountains.
The attacks come hours after a ceasefire that Russia unilaterally announced for May 8-10 came into effect. The Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday morning that it had registered 1,365 violations by Ukraine since midnight.
Ukraine also reported continued attacks on its territory since the start of the Russian ceasefire, which it had previously dismissed as an unserious gesture. President Volodymyr Zelensky said his military registered 850 Russian strikes since midnight.
“All of this clearly shows that, on the Russian side, there was not even a token attempt to cease fire on the front,” Zelensky wrote on X. “As we did over the past 24 hours, Ukraine will respond in kind today as well.”
He also claimed that Ukrainian drones struck energy infrastructure in the Yaroslavl region, located around 700 kilometers (434 miles) from the border with Ukraine. “An oil sector facility that was of great importance for financing Russia’s war,” Zelensky wrote.
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Kyiv has proposed a mutual halt to airport strikes with Moscow,
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Perhaps this can be the "figleaf of victory" that can get Putin to end this horrendous war.
“Z”......incoming......duck...
When Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, Russian propagandists framed the revolution as an effort by Nazis to rid the country of its Russian-speaking population. In the past month Putin has called for the “denazification” of Ukraine, falsely implying that the invasion resembled post-war efforts to dismantle Germany’s Nazi regime. But Ukraine’s Defense Minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has suggested that it’s actually the Russians relying on Nazi iconography, sharing photos of a Z on a tank alongside two Zs entwined to resemble a swastika. He tweeted: “At 1943 near the conccamp Sachsenhausen was a station Z where mass murders were committed.”
Oh well… there go my summer getaway plans to southern Russia
Many had expected that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s far-flung regions and republics would generate support for Moscow and demands across the country for a massive Russian response to what Kyiv is now doing, but the reverse is in fact the case, according to Abbas Gallyamov.
The former Putin speech writer and now Putin critic says that as he at least expected, by attacking Russia’s regions, “the Ukrainians are driving a wedge between Moscow and the federal subjects (t.me/abbasgallyamovpolitics/10415 reposted at echofm.online/opinions/odno-iz-samyh-uyazvimyh-mest-putinskogo-rezhima).
That is because people in the regions and republics are now having to an increasingly true reality: the defense of Moscow is being carried out on the backs of the federal subjects – and the center is not defending them as it should if Russia were a truly united country. According to Gallyamov, “the only effective defense” against such thinking “would be for Putin to make regular visits to the Russian heartland and, while there, publicly announce decisions to supply each of the regions with a new air defense system.” But “the Russian president is incapable of doing that.”
Indeed, the commentator says, it is clear that Putin “genuinely believes and with absolute sincerity that protecting the citizens of his country does not fall within the scope of duties the president is expected to fulfill.” Instead, his business is to bomb the enemy; as for how his subjects are faring, that is none of his concern.”
https://www.eurasiareview.com/12052026-with-widening-drone-attacks-ukraine-driving-wedge-between-moscow-and-federation-subjects-oped/
The Russians traffic control system must not work like ours. Rostov-on-Don is at the western end of the Sea of Azov.
While we do have a federal FAA system that manages the country, this seems to be a very large area that one center is controlling.
Of course, Russia is pretty big.
What goes around will come back around.
All the anti Freeper Russiophiles take note of your gross ignorance
You call us, the good guys, “Zeepers” because we favor Ukraine.
You the disgruntled ignoriti, can’t grasp the indisputable fact that “Z” is the symbol of the Russian army that is and has been obliterated
2 years later Russia staged some false flags, invaded & killed over 100,000 civilians. So you can trust Russia in negotiations now.
We’ve been getting a great many Russia-is-doomed posts on FR lately. Putin is on the way out. Any army of robots is on its way. Fantastic new drones hit their targets every time. Meanwhile, Russia’s side of the story has disappeared. What gives?
As of May 2026, Ukraine is actively establishing joint drone production with Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States, alongside engaging with roughly 20 other countries to localize manufacturing and scale up "deep strike" and tactical UAV production to fight Russian aggression.
Key joint drone production partnerships include:
Germany: Germany and Ukraine are cooperating on the production of long-range drones, with capabilities up to 1,500 kilometers (932 miles).
German defense firm Quantum Systems has already established assembly lines in Ukraine, with joint ventures focusing on both short and long-range systems.
The Netherlands: The Netherlands announced a 248 million euro ($293 million) investment in joint drone production with Ukraine. This initiative focuses on the production of "Baton" and "K4" drone models starting in 2026, with work occurring in both countries.
United States: Ukraine has drafted a memorandum with the U.S. to produce drones in joint ventures, with a focus on manufacturing and exporting technology to the U.S..
Additionally, a deal with Wilcox Industries was signed to produce drones in the U.S..
Other Collaborations: Ukraine is developing the "Build with Ukraine" initiative to set up production facilities in NATO countries
Russian invsion has stalled.
Russia's army advance hit the lowest rate since 2023 despite all their "winning," Black Bird Group reports. At this pace, it would take decades to occupy Donbass - the same territory they wanted without a fight.
Darn, and there go my plans to attend the annual "Mosquito Festivel"! I hope I can get a refund for this costume!
Quibble; it continues to be stalled. Putin has pushed his war of conquest and those who supported it have supported the elimination of internal opposition. He now has no way to stop, as his pro-war faction would turn on him if he did, and no one else will trust him with a burned-out match.
Apropos of nothing, in Iran, Larijani was careful to avoid detection, slept in different places each night and picked them himself, last minute.
Then he appeared in public at a regularly scheduled anti-Israel pro-genocide rally. That showing made it possible to follow a trail of bread crumbs to his next hideout, and the Israelis capped him.
Russian air control now.
You go first Vlad.
No, YOU go first Ivan.
yebat’ you both, I’M going first!
I don’t know - looks like Kazan and JonPreston were banned.
either case, I just want this war over - it’s a meat grinder
Freerepublic has become a sewer of anti-Trump, leftist propaganda, spewed by brain-dead NPCs. FR is gone. Long live MAGA.
Freerepublic is the enemy of Trump and MAGA.
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