Ukraine urges UN aviation body to ban all flights over Russia
Ukraine has asked the UN's aviation agency, ICAO, to push member states toward a full ban on civil flights in Russian airspace, citing growing safety risks. ICAO itself separately warned that the threat to commercial aircraft near conflict zones is increasing.
Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Mykola Kalashnyk sent a letter to ICAO Chairman Juan Carlos Salazar asking the agency to encourage aviation authorities and airlines to protect civil aviation, including by promoting a full prohibition on ICAO member states operating civil aircraft within Russian airspace. The letter came a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian skies were becoming "completely unsafe."
On Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said the country would intensify its response to Russia's escalating strikes on Kyiv, which has faced continuous air raid alerts for a week and damage to civilian infrastructure. Zelensky said Ukraine would strike only Russian military targets and would not threaten civilian planes, but added that the rising number of Ukrainian drones over Russian territory needed to be taken into account.
European and US airlines have avoided Russian airspace since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, but carriers from countries including China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states continue to use it.
ICAO flags rising danger
ICAO, which cannot impose binding rules on its 193 member states but whose decisions shape national aviation policy, warned on Wednesday that the risk of civilian aircraft being targeted or caught in crossfire is growing. Without naming any specific country, it called for stronger commitments to shield planes from conflict-zone dangers, noting that rerouting flights does not resolve the underlying security threat.
Aviation risk firm Osprey Flight Solutions said Ukraine's drone and missile strikes have already reached deep into Russian territory, forcing airport closures and flight cancellations. Russian President Vladimir Putin described Zelensky's remarks as "state terrorism," while Moscow said on Wednesday it would work to prevent any disruption to civil aviation.
The report also recalled a 2024 incident in which an Azerbaijan Airlines flight bound for Grozny crash-landed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people; Putin later said two Russian missiles detonated near the plane after Ukrainian drones entered the airspace. Ukraine itself closed its airspace to civilian traffic in 2022 and its airports remain shut, with sole surviving carrier SkyUp now operating out of Moldova.
