Ukraine stops air traffic with Belarusia

From midnight, Ukraine will stop air traffic with Belarus on May 26, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said in his Telegram channel . “Just at an extraordinary meeting, the government instructed the mininfrastructure, the State Aviation Administration and the Compleserukh State University to take the necessary measures for this,” he wrote.

Ukrainian airlines and aircraft will be forbidden to perform flights in the airspace of Belarus, and border guards received orders to stop the design of passengers following from Belarus or to Belarus at the airports. The official decision has not yet been published on this subject.

The day before, these measures were announced by the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Alexei Danilov. "Given the level of danger and the arrogance of challenges by democratic values ​​that create the activities of Belarus’s authorities in the immediate vicinity of the borders of Ukraine, President Vladimir Zelensky initiated a decision on the complete cessation of air traffic with the Republic of Belarus and the redirecting of all flights to bypass its airspace. The head of state instructed the government to work out the corresponding issue," he said.

The press service of Zelensky also reported that he instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to prepare a decision on the termination of direct air traffic between Ukraine and Belarus, as well as the closure of the airspace of Belarus for air travel from Ukraine and Ukraine.

The night before, the EU summit made a political decision to ban the flights of Belarusian airlines to the European Union. The summit participants turned to all European airlines with an appeal to stop flying over Belarus in connection with the "unacceptable actions of the Belarusian government" and the arrest of Roman Protasevich.

In the European Union, the actions of the Belarusian authorities are considered "contradicting basic democratic norms and freedom of speech," as they have expedient to the life of European citizens aboard this aircraft and its crew.

The chairman of the European Parliament David Sassoli, speaking at the EU summit, told European leaders about the need for a decisive and unified response of the European Union to the Ryanair incident in Belarus. "Yesterday's events associated with the forced landing in Minsk Ryanair, which followed from Athens to Vilnius, is unprecedentedly serious. The President Lukashenko’s regime deprived Roman Protasevich and his companion. We demand their immediate and unconditional liberation and granting them the opportunity to leave the country," the head of the European Parliament said.

According to him, "an international investigation is undoubtedly necessary to verify whether there was a threat of air transport and security of passengers from the sovereign state and whether the Chicago Convention was violated."

“Our answer should be decisive, immediate and united. The European Union must act without hesitation and punish the perpetrators. Today you are very responsible for showing that the Union is not a paper tiger,” Sasssoli emphasized.

EU leaders advocated the introduction of new sanctions against Belarus in connection with the incident with the landing of the Ryanair aircraft in Minsk. In the EU summit, it is noted that the European Union also “calls on the advice to accept additional (sanctions) lists in relation to individuals and legal entities, and as soon as possible.” However, the statement does not indicate which companies and individuals could fall under the sanctions of the EU. In addition, the EU summit called on ICAO to urgently investigate what happened to the Ryanair aircraft in Minsk as an "unprecedented and unacceptable incident."

Great Britain has already suspended the license of the Belarusian Belavia Belarusian airline for flights to the United Kingdom, and the aircraft of British airlines will be forbidden to fly over the territory of Belarus. Also, FINNAR, Air France and Singapore Airlines, announced the suspension of the territory of Belarus, and the Kazakhstani Air Astana airline canceled Almaty’s flights, which was planned on May 31.