Ukraine's president has told airlines that Russian airspace will be "effectively closing" as his country escalates its drone strikes. "We want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, everyone who still uses key Russian airports: the Russian sky is becoming completely dangerous," Volodymyr Zelensky said. Ukraine has since formally notified the UN of the risks to civilian aviation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the comments amounted to a "declaration of state terrorism". Most Western commercial airlines do not fly over Russia because of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, but carriers in countries like Turkey and China do. Explaining the elevated airspace risk in his nightly video address on Tuesday, Zelensky said that "Ukraine does not threaten civilian aviation as such - not a single civilian aircraft" and did not want the loss of innocent lives.
"There will simply be drones in Russia's skies on a scale that has to be taken into account," he said. Zelensky directed the warning to airlines continuing to operate flights to Russian airports, especially in major cities like St Petersburg and Moscow. In a statement on X, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Ukraine had officially notified the International Civil Aviation Organization that Russian airspace was not safe for civilian aviation.
"We want to prevent unintended incidents," he said, adding: "The war is returning home to Russia." On Wednesday afternoon, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed many planes flying over Russia, including arriving and departing from the two main airports, which had some delays, but few cancellations. Several airlines that fly through Russia told the BBC that they were carefully monitoring the situation. Qatar Airways, which flies into Moscow and travels through Russian airspace to get to the US west coast, said its flight planning was "guided by rigorous and continuous monitoring of airspace security, safety assessments, and geopolitical developments".
Turkish low-cost airline Pegasus cancelled its flights to Russia on Tuesday and Wednesday, citing "technical and operational reasons", but said future flights "are operating as scheduled". FlyDubai, an Emirati government-owned carrier, told the BBC that it would "closely monitor the evolving situation in the region and adjust our flight schedules and routings as necessary". Rosenberg: Putin's veiled threat to UK part of Russia's campaign against West Ukraine has targeted energy facilities deep inside Russian territory and there have been repeated attacks on depots belonging to Russia's two biggest online retailers, Wildberries and Ozon.
Its drone attacks have for months led to disruption at some of Russia's biggest airports, especially in Moscow where at times all four major airports have been forced to halt arrivals and departures. Several cancellations were reported on Wednesday. Ukraine does not have to target airports to cause disruption.
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