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Baza: more than 200 square km of airspace closed over St. Petersburg due to unidentified object

The airspace near Russia’s Saint Petersburg is currently empty, there are no civilian aircraft there, judging by Flightradar24.

Update

9:00 UTC 112 and Baza report that the airspace over Saint Petersburg has been opened.

10:32 UTC Russia’s Defence Ministry has reported that the airspace over Saint Petersburg had been closed earlier today for air defence training.


The Kover signal has been declared in the city, 112 and Baza say this happened because of an unidentified object in the sky. All departures and arrivals are currently postponed up to 12 hours at the Pulkovo airport. Baza reports the airspace over the city is closed up until 13:00 local time.

More than 200 square km of airspace over the Saint Petersburg area has been closed, Telegram channels say. All civilian aircraft are in the holding area, for instance, an Airbus A319-111 inbound from Moscow is cruising over Spasovo just outside the city.

The Kover signal is used in case of illegal overflying of the border or appearance of a UFO. It is reported that fighter jets have taken off in the area.

Baza’s theory is that the closure of airspace is connected with a potential mass drone attack. A fire happened at a petroleum storage depot in Russia’s Tuapse overnight, reportedly after an attack by two unidentified aircraft. The Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov also reported that debris of three UAVs had been found in his region overnight.

More details to follow