Airlines cancel flights over Ukraine as threat of war intensifies
A string of airlines have been forced to cancel routes into Ukraine, and even across the country’s airspace as fears of a Russian invasion escalate.
A string of new airlines have been forced to cancel flights to and over Ukraine, as fears of a Russian invasion intensify.
Air France and Lufthansa are the latest airlines to suspend flights to and from the capital of Kyiv, citing the change as a “precautionary measure”.
“Air France will regularly reassess the situation and reminds that the safety and security of its flights, its customers and its crews, is an absolute imperative,” Air France said in a statement on Monday.
Lufthansa announced on Saturday the German airline would also suspend flights to and from the capital and also Odessa until at least the end of February.
Both airlines join Swiss International Air Lines, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines, who all announced earlier in February they would be suspending flights into Ukraine until at least the end of the month.
Dutch carrier KLM was the first airline to take the drastic action of suspending flights and that the “safety of our passengers and crew members remains [our] top priority at all times”.
“Due to the current situation in Ukraine, Lufthansa Group airlines are suspending their regular flights to Kyiv and Odessa,” the airline’s statement read.
Scandinavian Airlines, known as SAS, cancelled its weekly flight from Oslo to Kyiv scheduled for Tuesday. John Eckhoff, a spokesman for the airline, said it would reassess the situation before deciding whether to resume the flight next week.
The suspension is in part due to the fear carried by airlines of what happened in 2014, when a missile fired from territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists brought down a Malaysia Airlines plane – MH17 – killing all 298 people aboard.
According to The New York Times, the Ukrainian authorities emphasised that the country’s airspace remained open, and scrambled to reassure the industry.
Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on February 13 the creation of a $820 million fund to cover insurance so that flights could continue through Ukrainian airspace.
In response, Ukraine International Airlines said last week that although insurance companies would stop insuring aircraft for flights over Ukrainian airspace, it would continue to operate flights normally thanks to co-operation with the government, according to the publication.
Tensions in Europe have spiralled after Russian President Vladimir Putin made a provocative, unexpected move which insiders believe has escalated the threat of all-out war.
Mr Putin has officially acknowledged two pro-Russian, rebel Ukrainian territories, recognising them as independent regions, and immediately sending in troops for “peacekeeping”.
It comes as Russia claimed that five Ukrainian “saboteurs” have been killed while attempting to breach the border, and after US President Joe Biden and Mr Putin yesterday agreed in principle to participate in a summit over the Ukraine crisis – on the proviso Russia does not invade the nation.
However, today’s bombshell announcement could threaten that historic summit.
As the crisis rages on, US intelligence has this week revealed that Mr Putin has given the order for his troops to invade Ukraine, with the Russian army now poised to strike. Around three-quarters of Russia’s total forces have reportedly been deployed against Ukraine, with almost 200,000 Russian and separatist forces positioned in the area near the border.
Western military experts fear the Russian President could launch a full-scale invasion in a matter of days to seize territory which was given up by the former USSR during the fall of the Soviet Union three decades ago.
The White House has announced it will impose economic sanctions on the breakaway regions, but not Russia for now.
In a speech late on Monday night local time, Mr Putin also said “modern-day Ukraine was in full and in whole created by Russia”.
Will Russia invade Ukraine?
It is unclear whether the Kremlin’s decrees for its forces to enter Donetsk and Luhansk constitute a full-scale invasion or whether Russian forces would limit themselves to those regions. Reports say that Russian forces stationed for months on the border have begun to move.
This comes despite the fact that Mr Putin has previously stated Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, and, in December 2021, armed forces chief Valery Gerasimov even denounced reports of an impending invasion as a lie.
He said more than 95 per cent of Moscow’s ground-based strategic nuclear forces are “kept in constant readiness for combat use”.
Western experts believe Russia has amassed some 130,000 troops along its northern, eastern and southern borders with Ukraine.
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Russia has also sent troops into Belarus, a close ally, for what are described as joint military exercises although it is believed this is just a cover to send forces to the Ukraine border. Despite the exercises finishing, Russian troops have remained within the region.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK said the risk of invasion is “extremely likely”.
– with Sarah Grealish and Zoe Hu and The Sun
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