Ukraine closes skies to Belarusian-registered aircraft

28.05.2021 12:19

Ukrinform

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the decision to ban the use of Ukrainian airspace by Belarusian-registered aircraft from May 29, according to a statement posted on the Ukrainian government's website.

"Due to the situation that arose on May 23, 2021 during Ryanair's Athens-Vilnius flight and in order to ensure the safety of flights and passengers, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the State Aviation Service and the state enterprise UkSATSE, taking into account the Cabinet of Ministers decision of May 25, 2021, have been instructed to introduce a respective ban from 00:00 on May 29, 2021," the statement reads.

Also, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the State Aviation Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in accordance with international law, should take measures to inform the relevant authorities of Belarus about the ban.

Earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers decided that Ukraine would suspend air travel with Belarus from May 26.

The decision was made after the Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet to force a Ryanair plane, en route from Athens to Vilnius, to land in Minsk on Sunday, May 23.

Roman Protasevich, the founder of the Nexta channel, was traveling on the plane. Belarusian security forces detained him after the plane landed.