chaos on the roads

Traffic here is out of control in general. The infrastructure was not created with the thought that average people would own cars, much less that people would want to buy single-family detached homes in the suburbs! Streets are clogged 24/7, and sidewalk parking is omnipresent. But something weird was going on tonight. Part of the metro was shut down, which never happens, and when I finally made it home, I found this epic jam by my house. As you see, once the fine line between chaos and order is violated, all hell breaks loose: people were trying to drive both ways in the same lane, and when that wasn't working, they resorted to the sidewalks! I got home and turned on the news to try to figure out what was going on, and I suspect that all this is linked to Putin's visit to Kyiv today--perhaps they shut down all traffic in the city to get him out to the airport??