Ukraine asks ICAO to push for complete ban on flights over Russia

Ukraine has called on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to urge its member states to impose a complete ban on civil aircraft operations in Russian airspace. The appeal was made in a letter from Ukraine's infrastructure minister, Mykola Kalashnyk, to ICAO's leadership, a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian airspace was "becoming completely unsafe."

The request comes as Kyiv faces intensified Russian strikes, with the capital under continuous air raid alerts for seven days and civilian infrastructure hit. Ukrainian officials have said they will step up retaliation, but Zelenskiy stressed that any response would target only Russian military facilities, not civilian aircraft. He also noted that the increasing presence of Ukrainian drones in Russian skies should be taken into account.

In the letter, Kalashnyk argued that the risk of tragedies in the skies should be minimised and asked ICAO to encourage aviation authorities and airlines to safeguard civil aviation, including by facilitating a full prohibition by member states of operations within Russian airspace.

Moscow reacted sharply, with President Vladimir Putin calling Zelenskiy's comments "state terrorism." Russia's government vowed on Wednesday to prevent any disruption to civil aviation.

The appeal references a 2024 incident in which an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, heading to Grozny, crash-landed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. Putin later said two Russian missiles detonated near the aircraft after Ukrainian drones entered the airspace.

Ukraine has kept its own airspace closed to civilian traffic since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, when missile barrages were launched without warnings to civilian aircraft. Its only surviving airline, SkyUp, now operates from neighbouring Moldova.