They are now called the Donetsk Independent People's Republic and the Luhansk Independent People's Republic. The declaration of independence by these two republics was recognised by Vladimir Putin's government.. An act that initially paved the way for a "peace-building occupation" by Russian troops. Russian troops then invaded the whole country, bombing strategic sites. Including, according to some reports, Kiev's civilian airport Borispol.
As recently as Monday, the Ukrainian Minister for Infrastructure, Oleksander Kubrakov, insisted that flying into the country remains safe. In a media briefing, he explained that " the cancellation of flights by a number of airlines is dictated by the worsening political situation, rather than by any real changes to the safety of flights" . But since Thursday, with the Russian invasion, all Ukrainian airspace has been closed to civilian traffic.
The situation was being closely monitored by the airlines.. Since the beginning of February, European carriers have been gradually suspending their routes. These included KLM, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Lufthansa Group (Austrian, Lufthansa and Swiss International). The latter is the most exposed, with flights to Kiev, Lviv (Lvov) and Odessa.. The group continued to fly over Lviv in the west of the country and 70 km from the Polish border.
Many airlines had anticipated this closure, avoiding flying over Ukrainian territory for several days. The memory of the Malaysia Airlines shot down "by mistake" in 2014 by Donbass rebels.
Closure of airspace with Belarus and Moldova
After taking a cautious, day-to-day approach, Air France has had to suspend these two weekly flights to Kiev.
In response to the conflict in Ukraine, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency published an update to its Information Bulletin on conflict zones on 24 February.
This update extends the affected airspace to include the flight region of Chisinau (Moldova) and Minsk (Belarus). The agency also advises air operators to exercise caution when operating throughout the Moscow and Rostov region. Increased military activity may include the firing of medium-range missiles into controlled airspace. Both countries have totally or partially closed their airspace. This could cause delays to flights to Russia. Russia has also closed its airspace in southern Russia. Including Crimea.
Lines between the EU and Russia affected in turn?
The worsening situation could have consequences for airlines to Russia. For the moment, the Air France group is continuing to serve Russia, in this case the cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The Lufthansa group says it is also continuing to fly to these two cities.
The UK is the only country so far to have suspended all flights by Russian airlines, including Aeroflot. Moscow has retaliated by applying the same sanctions. Could other European countries follow the British example? Not so sure. In fact, Russian airspace is vital for many routes to North-East Asia, such as Japan. The suspension of flights could therefore result in a ban on overflying Russian territory. And therefore prevent certain routes from operating normally.
