New Delhi: The Ukrainian government made an announcement on Wednesday night that it is closing airports in eastern Ukraine from midnight through 7 am EET, because of the confrontation with Russia, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Also, Ukrainian aviation authorities declared some airspace in the east to be danger areas. The move was made because of attempts by Russian aviation authorities to seize control of the airspace, according to the AP report.
Russia issued a ban on civilian air traffic in airspace over eastern Ukraine, and after this, Ukraine made the announcement on Wednesday night.
Ukraine has restricted flights of civil aircraft within the country, and Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) has been issued. Air India's second special flight AI-1947 left for Ukraine's Boryspil airport today morning, Prasar Bharati News Services (PNBS) reported.
The announcement establishes buffer zones for traffic controlled by Ukrainian authorities. This was done in order to avoid coming into potentially hazardous conflict with air traffic controlled by Russian authorities, the AP report said.
According to media reports, Ukrainian aviation officials warned pilots in the region, last week, to be on the lookout for Russian authorities trying to take control of the airspace and to only recognise Ukraine's controllers.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, is pleading for peace, since the Russian threat is growing. Zelenskyy said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not accept his call, according to reports.
The Ukrainian President, in an emotional address to Ukraine late Wednesday, rejected Moscow’s claims that his country poses a threat to Russia, according to reports.
Zelenskyy lamented that a Russian invasion would cost tens of thousands of lives, media reports said.
Hours after declaring a nationwide state of emergency, Zelenskyy said in Russian that the people of Ukraine and the government of Ukraine want peace, according to reports.
Zelenskyy said that if the nation comes under attack, “we will fight back”. He said that he tried to call Putin, but the Kremlin remained silent, according to reports.
The Kremlin announced that rebels in eastern Ukraine asked Russia for military assistance Wednesday to help fend off Ukrainian “aggression”, according to media reports. This was an announcement that immediately fuelled fears that Moscow was offering up a pretext for war, just as the West had warned, media reports said.