Russia closes airspace over Kapustin Yar on May 12 and 13

Russia will close the airspace over the Kapustin Yar missile range for a possible ballistic missile launch.

The relevant information was published on the official NOTAMs website.

The notification on the closure of the airspace in the area of the missile range was published on May 8. The conditions specified in it may indicate a possible launch of ballistic missiles.

First of all, the range of altitudes that will be closed is noteworthy: from surface level to unlimited altitude.

The ban applies to all aircraft that can fly in the area. The airspace will be closed on May 12 and 13 daily from 06:00 to 16:00 local time.

It is worth noting that a similar flight ban was already in effect on November 21, 2024, on the eve of the strike by the Kedr (Oreshnik) ballistic missile on the Dnipro River.

Back then, the restriction lasted from 04:00 to 20:00 between November 21 and 23.

A similar message was also published on December 11-13 from 08:00 to 12:00 local time, and the second one on December 16-21. This was followed by a massive missile attack on Ukraine on December 13, using ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles.

The Kedr (Oreshnik) system

It is known that the Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile was developed on the basis of the RS-26 “Rubezh”.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has detailed that the real name of the complex is not “Oreshnik” but “Kedr”. The missile was equipped with six warheads: each warhead was equipped with six submunitions. The speed on the final section of the trajectory is over 11 mach.

The tests of the Kedr missile system took place at the Kapustyn Yar test site in October 2023 and June 2024.

As a reminder, in August 2019, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) between the United States and Russia expired.