Ukrainian Airspace Closed After Russian Attack

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Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights following a large-scale Russian attack on the country early Thursday morning. Airspace closure NOTAMs were also published for Ukrainian neighbor Moldova and parts of Belarus and Russia, primarily along the Ukrainian border. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a Conflict Zone Information Bulletin (CZIB) for the region, warning civilian operators to stay clear of airspace within 100 NM of the Ukrainian borders.

“Under these circumstances, the aforementioned airspace and critical infrastructure, including airports, are exposed to military activities which result in safety risks for civil aircraft,” EASA said in the CZIB. “In particular, there is a risk of both intentional targeting and misidentification of civil aircraft. The presence and possible use of a wide range of ground and airborne warfare systems poses a HIGH risk for civil flights operating at all altitudes and flight levels.”

It has been reported that at least 75 Russian fixed-wing heavy and medium bombers took part in Thursday’s attack, which also included surface missile launches and incursions by ground troops and tanks. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry stated on Thursday morning that it has shot down six Russian planes and two helicopters, although Russia denies the losses. As previously reported by AVweb, NATO was positioning aerial assets in preparation for a Russian attack on Ukraine earlier this week.

Kate O'Connor
Kate O’Connor works as AVweb's Editor-in-Chief. She is a private pilot, certificated aircraft dispatcher, and graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

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29 COMMENTS

    • no, it’s about Putin following Stalin’s playbook and Russian leadership and not Hitler’s. I’ll be more direct next time and less subtle.

  1. Not to worry. These happenings made our Army SO nervous that they changed the name of Fort Dix to Fort ‘Gender Non Specific’ yesterday. Not to be outdone, the Air Force ordered all fighter pilots headed that way to dye their hair purple. The Navy is camouflaging all destroyers in the Mediterranean by painting them pink and chartreuse. Meanwhile, the USMC is spit shining their jungle boots to a glistening perfection and issuing new medical masks with MRE’s. (sigh!)

    • Larry,

      Your comments are consistently among the best here on AvWeb. You hit it out of the park yet again with this one. I would say it’s a close call between you and LARS for overall winner. You’re a kindred spirt. Keep it up.

      • Thanks for the nice compliment, Jay. Note the time I wrote that … I wake up in the middle of the nite and spend a few hours looking for something to do to make myself tired most nites; I do my ‘best work’ then.

        Being a retired USAF SrNCO, I can say such things. I don’t take any prisoners … I ‘off’ em’ all and god sorts em’ out for me later. You should see what I DON’T type 🙂 .

        I see myself as an aviation themed Don RIckles 🙂

  2. By the way… you have been lied to about the entire situation in Ukraine… yes, the idiots in Ukraine were attacking Russian civilians with commercial drones dropping explosives on civilians. You were told, Putin would claim this, because the Ukraine people have been doing it for years now. They were posting these attacks for years now. The so called false flag was real.
    If Mexican people were crossing the boarder attacking and killing Americans… wait… forget it. Crooked Ukraine leaders paid off Biden’s crack head son for their protection… No one has paid off Biden’s crack head son so ‘the Big Man’ has no interest in the American boarders.

    • I guess you must be old… you are as lost as Biden.

      Biden’s boy has a crack problem displayed in pictures from his laptop, His boy was also paid off by corrupt officials in Ukraine (Trump questioned Ukraine about it and the Democrats went nuts trying to hide the crooked dealings) Some of the money went to ‘the big guy’ (daddy Joe Biden) for favors now being returned.

      Ukrainian trouble makers were posting videos of them dropping explosives from commercially available drones, killing Russian speaking people east of the river for years now. I saw them long before any Russian intervention because I was looking for drone footage as a commercial drone pilot.

      The fake news was given a heads up… from where, the crooked paid off White House.
      They knew of the posts (on YouTube for anyone to see, taken down now… I’m sure it was by a Biden or his lackeys order.) and wanted to head off any sympathy for Russians being murdered by Ukrainians.

      If you are not paying attention you will crash and burn.

    • How long would it take for a missile to reach the U.S. from Russia?
      A: about 30; a submarine-based missile could strike in as little as 10 to 15 minutes after launch.

      So how many sanctions can or will be applied before sh*t hits the fan?

      • Biden wasn’t given that much money. He will only present to be interested. Putin knows this. Nothing will happen between US and Russia.

  3. As much as I feel sorry for Ukraine, would you or any other American be willing to take the risk of threatening using nukes against Russia. This question has come up on several other occasions and with two exceptions the answer was no. Eisenhower did little in 1956 when the Soviets invaded Hungary. I think he was war weary after WWII. Johnson was distracted with Vietnam and did little when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. The only time I can remember a US President threatening to use nuclear weapons was Kennedy in 1962 and Nixon in 1973 ( during the Yom Kippur war in the Middle East when the Soviets wanted to send their troops there). Both times cooler heads prevailed. I believe this war is a European problem, not ours. Let the European countries put up their military instead of us fighting their war again. Unless Putin is really dumb enough to attack a NATO member country I just don’t see anything like that done by this President. God help us all if Putin does!

    • Matt W: U.S. isolationists trusted that World War II was between European nations and that the United States ought not get in the mix. Believing that the better option was for the United States to strengthen the homeland military while remaining neutral. The rest is history. Neutrality was not then, nor is it now, an option.

      • You got it, Raf. The only thing Vlad’s gonna understand is a big fat fist right in the schnozola followed by a punch to his belly. The ONLY thing to do to a bully is … out bully him.

      • The only reason the US got involved with the European part of WWII is because Hitler was dumb enough to declare war on the US before we declared war on Hitler. Which brings up another issue. According to the Constitution only Congress can declare war, not the President. Unless Putin attacks a NATO country, I seriously doubt there is enough support in Congress to declare war per the Constitution. Something that has not happened since WWII.

  4. Today, Ukraine.
    Tomorrow, Taiwan.
    And then…???

    Anyone who thinks that they can successfully ignore a rattlesnake, never has been bitten. I was bitten – twice.

    • People’s Republic of China. It is the world’s most populous country, …and has the hots for Taiwan. Hmm! The Olympics are over…

      • BTW: The current population of China is 1.45+ billion. According to the PRC’s government, Taiwan’s sovereignty belongs to China, stipulating that the separation of Taiwan should be agreed upon by ALL 1.45+ billion Chinese citizens (Ballot 13 not included) instead of just the 23.9 million residents of Taiwan. Taiwan proclaims that is inappropriate to link them to the present Ukraine/Russia conflict. However, Taiwan is Bright-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed.

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