Ukraine is to halt air traffic with Belarus from 00:00 Kyiv time on May 26, 2021.
This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Telegram on May 25, 2021.
"Just now, at a special meeting, the government has instructed the Infrastructure Ministry, the State Aviation Administration and State Enterprise UkSATSE to take the necessary measures for this," he said.
What is more, Ukrainian airlines and aircraft are not allowed to fly in Belarusian airspace, he said.
Read alsoForeign planes massively avoid Belarusian airspace, only Russia aircraft fly over Belarus
"The State Border Service was also ordered to stop the registration of passengers traveling from Belarus or to Belarus at the customs points at the airports. The situation with the forced landing of the Ryanair aircraft in Minsk is a violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The decision of our government is aimed at ensuring the safety of flights and passengers," he said.
Forced landing of Ryanair flight in Minsk: Details
- On May 23, 2021, Belarus scrambled a MiG-29 fighter jet to forcedly land a Ryanair plane in Minsk. The plane was heading from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania. Co-founder of Telegram's opposition channel NEXTA, Roman Protasevich, was on board the plane.
- The plane was diverted to Minsk at the command of Belarusian air traffic controllers over a possible bomb threat, despite the fact that the distance to Vilnius was much shorter. After the plane landed, Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend were detained. Protasevich faces the death penalty in Belarus.
- The circumstances of the forced landing of the Ryanair airline in Minsk will be investigated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
- In turn, Ryanair said in a comment on the incident that the Belarusian side had received a message about a security-related threat on board the airliner. At the same time, the company did not mention that its plane had been accompanied by a fighter jet and that after the forced landing, journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend had been removed from the flight.
- A number of European countries announced the possible introduction of sanctions against Belarus for the incident. In addition, some airlines immediately stopped using Belarussian airspace.
- Ukraine will also terminate flights with Belarus and redirect all flights around that country's airspace. Lithuania and the United Kingdom have already banned arrivals of planes traveling through that country.