Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned airlines and insurance companies that the presence of Ukrainian drones has made Russian airspace too dangerous for use and that it has effectively become closed.
اضافة اعلان
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said: “Today, we want to warn every airline using Russian airspace, every insurance company, and everyone who continues to use Russia’s major airports that the Russian skies have become completely dangerous.”
He said Ukraine does not pose a threat to civil aviation, “but there will be drones in Russia’s skies, and the necessary warning should be taken into account.”
“Although the Russian authorities are not properly announcing it, Russian airspace will effectively close. The war Russia started is closing its skies,” he added.
Russia has intensified its airstrikes on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks. Moscow’s latest attack killed 12 people and wounded many more, marking the sixth consecutive day of heavy attacks on the Ukrainian capital.
Ukraine has responded with repeated drone strikes against targets in Russia, many of them linked to the country’s oil industry, as well as retail sites.
While European and U.S. airlines do not fly over Russia because of the war, airlines from countries including China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states continue to use Russian airspace. U.S. airlines have said that access to Russian airspace has given these carriers an advantage in terms of saving time and fuel.
Airspace Risks
The full extent of the threat posed by Ukrainian drones to aviation over Russia, the world’s largest country by area, remains unclear. However, the region has witnessed deadly incidents in which civilian aircraft were accidentally targeted.
Osprey Flight Solutions, an aviation risk consultancy, said in an advisory to its clients that although most Ukrainian drone and missile strikes were likely to occur within 300 kilometers of the border, daily attacks deep inside Russia had become almost certain by 2026, including near Moscow and St. Petersburg.
“There is also a realistic possibility that the frequency of Ukrainian strikes will continue to increase in the short term deeper inside Russian territory,” the advisory said. “The assessment indicates that miscalculation and/or misidentification is likely in areas associated with the conflict in Ukraine.”
Osprey said Russia’s military air defenses include conventional surface-to-air missile systems capable of operating at all altitudes.
The European Court of Human Rights, Europe’s highest human rights court, ruled last year that Russia was responsible for the downing of a Malaysian passenger aircraft in 2014 while it was flying at cruising altitude over eastern Ukraine, where fighting was taking place.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Azerbaijan’s leader last year that two Russian missiles exploded near an Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft in 2024 after Ukrainian drones entered Russian airspace. The incident killed 38 people.
Source: Reuters
