Under pressure Ukraine has vowed to keep its airspace open to international travel despite strong warnings that Russian troops conducting drills near its borders could invade its territories at any point.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that the Dutch carrier KLM on Saturday became the very first major airline to indefinitely suspend flights to the former Soviet republic due of the rising risks around the country.
Ukraine’s budget airline SkyUp had on Sunday revealed that its flight from Portugal to Kyiv was forced to land in Moldova because the plane’s Irish leasing company had revoked permission for it to cross into Ukraine.
SkyUP added that European leasing companies were demanding that Ukrainian airlines return their planes to EU airspace within 48 hours.
Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry responded by holding an emergency meeting aimed at maintaining foreign travel and keeping the country from becoming more isolated in the heat of the crisis.
Industry analysts believe other international airlines may soon also ban flights into Ukraine because of the growing cost to travel insurers.
Africa Daily News, New York understands that the worries about air travel has come with a growing number of Western governments winding down their diplomatic missions in Kyiv and advising citizens to get out of Ukraine as soon as they can.
The US State Department on Saturday ordered all non-emergency embassy staff out of Ukraine.
Russia cited fears of “possible provocations from the Kyiv regime” as it also began pulling out some embassy staff.
The drawdown has touched the staff of the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) monitoring mission in Ukraine.
The OSCE has served as the world’s eyes and ears for the eight-year conflict across Ukraine’s Russian-backed separatist east that has claimed more than 14,000 lives.
But images on social media showed convoys of its white SUVs leaving various parts of the conflict zone because of the staff’s need to comply with their respective governments’ travel advisories.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday that the mission’s partial withdrawal caused “serious concern” in Moscow because the move further ramped up tensions.
The Ukrainian government has over the last few days been trying to preempt the flood of foreigners leaving the country by calling for calm and criticising US warnings of war breaking out ‘any day’.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
