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Ukraine has formally notified the International Civil Aviation Organization that Russian airspace is "not safe" for civilian aircraft, citing an intensifying campaign of long-range Ukrainian strikes deep into Russian territory and Moscow's own escalating attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha announced the notification Wednesday on social media platform X, urging airlines and governments worldwide to steer clear of the airspace. The ICAO, the UN agency that sets global civil aviation standards, had made no public comment on the notification as of Wednesday.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has carried out retaliatory drone strikes on energy and military infrastructure inside Russia, some hitting targets hundreds of kilometres from the front line. The notification comes as Moscow has been launching nightly waves of drone and missile barrages against Ukrainian towns and cities.
"Against the backdrop of Russia's drastic escalation of terror against Ukraine, Russian airspace is becoming increasingly unsafe," Sybiha wrote, adding that Kyiv was urging "everyone to avoid it."
He accused Moscow of failing to adequately warn civilian operators of the dangers created by the war. "Russia has been deliberately ignoring the existing threats as a result of its aggression against Ukraine, which has already led to several incidents in the past years," he said.
Russia's aviation watchdog regularly shuts down airports in response to Ukrainian drone activity, a pattern that has disrupted domestic and international flights for months.
Sybiha's warning pointed to a history of close calls linked to the conflict. In 2024, Russian air defences mistakenly shot down an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet, which Moscow said had occurred amid a Ukrainian drone attack. The episode is widely regarded as a stark illustration of the risks posed to civil aviation by the war's spillover into contested or nearby airspace.
Ukraine's own airspace has remained closed to civilian aviation since Russia's invasion began in February 2022, a restriction that has held throughout the war even as Russian civilian flights have continued to operate.
The ICAO notification does not itself close Russian airspace to traffic; under international rules, the responsibility for assessing and communicating risk in conflict zones rests primarily with individual states, air-navigation authorities and aircraft operators. Kyiv's move instead formalizes a warning that Ukrainian officials have been voicing with increasing urgency as the pace of long-range strikes on both sides has picked up.
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