KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine said on Wednesday it had formally notified the International Civil Aviation Organisation that Russian airspace was “not safe”, following repeated Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian territory.
The ICAO, a United Nations agency that regulates and establishes standards for civil aviation, made no immediate public comment.
Russia’s aviation watchdog called Ukraine’s warnings illegitimate and “invalid”.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has launched retaliatory drone strikes on targets inside Russia, hitting energy and military infrastructure hundreds of kilometres from the front line.
The strikes come at a time when Moscow has launched waves of deadly drone and missile barrages at Ukrainian towns and cities.
“Against the backdrop of Russia’s drastic escalation of terror against Ukraine, Russian airspace is becoming increasingly unsafe,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on X.
“We urge everyone to avoid it... Russia has been deliberately ignoring the existing threats as a result of its aggression against Ukraine, which has already led to several incidents in the past years,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Tuesday his military’s drones would make Russian airspace “completely unsafe” for the duration of the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described Zelensky’s comments as “a declaration of state terrorism”.
Russia’s aviation watchdog regularly closes airports in response to Ukrainian drone strikes.
In 2024, Russian air defences accidentally downed an Azerbaijani passenger jet during what Moscow said was a Ukrainian drone attack.
Ukraine’s airspace has been closed to civilian traffic since Russia’s invasion.
Meanwhile, Russian drones tore into central Kyiv on Wednesday morning, wounding 11 people and damaging residential and university buildings on the seventh day of nearly round-the-clock attacks that have upended daily life in Ukraine’s capital.
Moscow’s new air campaign against Kyiv and the surrounding region has killed dozens of civilians and disrupted logistics as the city struggles to shoot down the jet-powered drones that have swarmed the area in waves.
Wednesday’s attack on a downtown university took place while students were in class, forcing some 160 to seek shelter, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
