Ukraine Stops Flights with Belarus

The decision to stop air traffic was made against the background of the incident with the Ryanair plane, which was urgently landed in Minsk. After landing, the Belarusian authorities detained Roman Protasevich, who was on board the liner. Starting with May 26, Ukraine stops air communication with Belarus. This decision was made at an extraordinary government meeting on Tuesday, May 25, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmyhal said. “From 00:00 on May 26, Ukraine will stop air communication with Belarus,” Shmyhal wrote in his Telegram channel. Ukrainian airlines are prohibited from flying in the airspace of Belarus, and the State Border Service of Ukraine has been instructed to stop processing passengers traveling from Belarus or to Belarus. “The situation with the forced landing of a Ryanair aircraft in Minsk is a violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The government's decision is aimed at ensuring the safety of flights and passengers,” Shmyhal said. On the eve, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky instructed the government to prepare a decision on flights termination between Ukraine and Belarus. Ryanair incident This happened against the background of the incident with the Ryanair plane, which was on a flight from Athens to Vilnius, but was urgently landed in Minsk due to a false message about the mine being mined. To escort the aircraft, a MiG-29 fighter was raised by order of the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. On board the Ryanair flight were a wanted Belarusian opposition blogger Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, a Russian citizen, Sofia Sapega. After the plane landed, both of them were detained. Germany, the European Union, the United States and other Western countries sharply condemned the actions of Belarus, accusing the authorities of this country of state terrorism and promised to expand sanctions against Minsk. They also demanded the immediate release of Protasevich. Refusal to use the airspace of Belarus After the Ryanair incident, Great Britain and France suspended the permission for flights of the Belarusian state airline Belavia, Lithuania stopped accepting planes from Belarus, and the European Council ordered to ban Belavia flights to all EU countries. A number of European airlines, including French Air France, Latvian airBaltic, Dutch KLM, Scandinavian SAS, Hungarian Wizz Air, German Lufthansa, Finnish Finnair, refused using the Belarusian airspace.