Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsiya, suspended arrivals and departures at Kaliningrad Khrabrovo Airport (KGD) on the evening of May 25, 2026, after regional authorities issued what local and Russian media describe as the first drone-danger alert ever declared for the Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea.
The restrictions were lifted roughly two hours later, with both Rosaviatsiya and the airport confirming a return to normal operations. The agency said the measures had been introduced “to ensure flight safety,” without elaborating on the specific threat.
Plan Kovyor activated at Khrabrovo
The regional emergency warning system pushed a drone-danger signal via the federal MAX channel at 19:00 local time, citing the duty officer of the civil-defense control point. The Kaliningrad regional government said all relevant services had been engaged.
Khrabrovo was placed under Plan Kovyor (Plan “Carpet”), the airspace-clearance procedure invoked when uncrewed or unidentified aerial vehicles are deemed a threat to civil traffic. Dozens of aircraft were reported to be holding while the restrictions were in force, with three departures from Khrabrovo and one inbound flight from Nizhny Novgorod showing delays. The civil-defense alert was canceled at 20:23 local time, and the airport was operating in regular mode by 20:42 local time.
A first drone alert for Kaliningrad
The closure is the first of its kind at Khrabrovo since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, in contrast to the now-routine drone-related shutdowns at airports in central and southern Russia, including the repeated closures of Moscow’s four airports during the May 8 celebrations of Victory Day.
Kaliningrad sits more than 800 kilometers (497 miles) from the closest Ukrainian-controlled territory and is bordered by NATO members Poland and Lithuania, with the Baltic Sea to its west. Neither the Russian Ministry of Defense nor the Ukrainian authorities have publicly commented on the origin of the threat.
Moscow’s Baltic drone narrative
The Khrabrovo alert comes five days after Lithuania and Latvia issued simultaneous air-danger alerts on May 20, 2026, which briefly closed Vilnius Airport (VNO), and lands in the middle of a sustained Russian campaign accusing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania of allowing their airspace to be used for Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service warned Latvia on May 19, 2026, that NATO membership would not protect it from retaliation, hours before a Romanian F-16 of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing detachment downed a probable Ukrainian drone over Estonia.
The Baltic presidents have rejected the accusations as a disinformation campaign, and the foreign ministers of eight countries issued a joint condemnation on May 22, 2026. NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, US Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, pointed out that the alliance would not be shooting down drones over its own territory if it were allowing them through to Russia.
Speaking in Vilnius on May 26, 2026, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the air alerts, shelter orders, school closures, and transport disruptions seen along Europe’s eastern flank were “not isolated incidents,” but part of a deliberate Russian effort to destabilize democratic societies.
— Gitanas Nausėda (@GitanasNauseda) May 26, 2026
