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Ukrainian airspace closed to civilian flights

Ukraine government closes some airports over confrontation with Russia

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Airspace over all of Ukraine has been shut down to civilian air traffic, according to a notice posted to air crews early Thursday.

A commercial flight tracking website shows that an Israeli El Al Boeing 787 from Tel Aviv to Toronto turned abruptly out of Ukrainian airspace before detouring over Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.

The only other aircraft tracked over Ukraine is a US RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned surveillance plane that began flying eastward early Thursday after Russia put in place flight restrictions over Ukrainian territory

The Ukrainian government is closing airports in eastern Ukraine from midnight through 7am because of the confrontation with Russia.

Ukrainian aviation authorities also have declared some airspace in the east to be “danger areas” because of attempts by Russian aviation authorities to seize control of the airspace.

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Ukraine acted after Russia issued a ban on civilian air traffic in airspace over eastern Ukraine.

The announcement Wednesday night establishes buffer zones for traffic controlled by Ukrainian authorities to avoid coming into potentially hazardous conflict with air traffic controlled by Russian authorities.

Last week, Ukrainian aviation officials warned pilots in the region to be on the lookout for Russian authorities trying to take control of the airspace and to only recognize Ukraine’s controllers.

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