Ukraine, isolated: the image of the airspace after the Russian attack

Ukraine has ordered the closure of airspace after the start of the military operation ordered by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

In a statement released this morning, the State Company of Air Traffic Services of Ukraine has reported that “due to the high risk of aviation safety for civil aeronautics”, the closure of the airspace was decreed.

Something that is clearly seen in the images that accompany these lines. It is shocking to see how, while all countries have dynamic air traffic, Ukrainepart of Belarus and part of Russia are practically empty.

In this Flightradar24 publication you can see the big difference between the airspace in the area this Thursday around 06:00 and that of seven days ago:

This very morning, Aena has reported the suspension of four of the six flights that were scheduled for today in Ukraine. Three departures were scheduled for this Thursday and with origin and destination Kiev.

For its part, Ryanair has announced that has canceled for “at least 14 days” all flights to and from Ukraine. Until today, the airline had maintained all connections with the country. Likewise, it has suspended the sale of tickets to this destination until it obtains more information from “the security agencies” of the European Union (EU).

All this after the war broke out this morning after the attack by the Russian army, which has been directed against various Ukrainian regions, mostly military infrastructure, airports and airfields. Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnitsky, Chernigov, Kharkov, Kiev, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson, Kramatorsk and Lugansk are some of those areas.

Of those Russian targets, the only one in Donbas is the city of Kramatorsk, considered the Ukrainian military base in the Donetsk region. In addition, Odessa is the most important base of the Ukrainian Black Sea fleet and Kherson is the region bordering the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

The Ukrainian government has reported that the attacks have resulted in at least 10 civilians and 40 Ukrainian soldiers dead. In addition, at least 50 Russian soldiers have been killed by Ukraine in the operation to retake the city of Shchastia, in the Luhansk region. “Shchastia was recovered after the attack by the Russian aggressor. During the attempted attack, enemy equipment was destroyed and about 50 enemies were killed,” the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security of Ukraine reported.