Zelenskyy: We are blocking Russian airports as airlines cancel flights

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine’s warning about drone threats over Russia is already prompting airlines to reconsider flights to Russian airports.

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We are receiving information that the first airlines have begun canceling flights to Russian airports after our warning about the drone threat, which objectively exists in Russia’s airspace.

“We are receiving information that the first airlines have begun canceling flights to Russian airports after our warning about the drone threat, which objectively exists in Russia’s airspace,” the Ukrainian president said in a video message. He called the decision “the right and completely logical reaction” to a war that, he said, Russia does not want to end.

“People’s lives must be protected,” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine has formally informed international organizations and partners about what he described as the real situation in Russian airspace. He also urged ambassadors working in Ukraine and Moscow to inform their capitals about the implications of the war for their countries.

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People’s lives must be protected.

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy announced a campaign to block Russian airspace. “Today we want to warn every airline using Russian airspace, every insurer and everyone who continues to use key Russian airports: the Russian sky is becoming completely dangerous,” he wrote on Telegram. “Ukraine does not threaten civil aviation as such, or any civilian aircraft. There will simply be so many drones in the Russian sky that this must be taken into account.”

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Today we want to warn every airline using Russian airspace, every insurer and everyone who continues to use key Russian airports: the Russian sky is becoming completely dangerous.

He said Russian airspace would effectively be closed even if Russian authorities did not properly report the danger. “Safe moments in the Russian sky are over,” Zelenskyy said. On Wednesday, Turkey’s low-cost carrier Pegasus canceled at least one flight from Bodrum to Moscow scheduled for 12:05 a.m. on Sept. 2, the Russian Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti reported.

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Ukraine does not threaten civil aviation as such, or any civilian aircraft. There will simply be so many drones in the Russian sky that this must be taken into account.