Zelensky Warns Airlines: Russian Airspace 'De Facto Closed' — SkimNews
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- Zelensky warned airlines, insurers and foreign governments that Russian airspace "will be de facto closed" because of Ukrainian drones, declaring that "the safe days in Russia's skies are over" and that Ukrainian drones will operate "on a scale that has to be taken into account."
- Putin characterized Zelensky's statement as "state terrorism," while the article notes Russia is developing a jet-powered Geran 3 drone that appears faster than any Ukrainian interceptor drone and is now targeting Ukraine's drone production facilities and warning outside suppliers — especially in the UK.
- Between February 2023 and May 2025, Russian airports closed at least 366 times under emergency "Carpet" (Kovyor) protocols triggered by unauthorized objects including incoming drones, heavily impacting Moscow's four commercial hubs and regional facilities across western and southern Russia.
- Moscow's four commercial airports — Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky — handle 1,500 to 1,800 flights daily, with St. Petersburg's airports handling another 400 to 500, serving roughly 60 foreign commercial carriers including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, Air China and Ethiopian Airlines.
- All of Ukraine's commercial passenger air facilities have been closed since the war began, forcing travelers to fly into Poland, Slovakia, Hungary or Moldova and cross into Ukraine by land; Ukraine's own presidential Airbus A319 is now based at Poland's Krakow airport.
- The US, EU, Canada, UK and other Western nations banned Russian aircraft from their airspace at the start of the war, and Russia retaliated by closing its airspace to carriers from over 30 countries — making the foreign carriers still flying to Russia predominantly from the Middle East, Asia, Turkey and Africa.
- Russia is increasingly focusing strikes on manufacturing and storage sites around Kyiv and energy and port operations in Odesa, attacks that have all but halted grain and cooking oil exports and stopped incoming arms shipments.
Why it matters: Zelensky explicitly named insurers among those he warned, signaling that risk assessments for the roughly 60 foreign carriers — from Middle Eastern, Asian, Turkish and African airlines — still operating 1,900-2,300 daily flights into Moscow and St. Petersburg will change. With 366 emergency airport closures already logged since early 2023, insurers have documented data showing the threat is operational, not theoretical, while Ukraine's own civilians have been without commercial air access since the war began.
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