Ukraine under attack: European Union shuts airspace to Russian airlines

Pic: Pixabay (representational purpose)

A top European Union official said that the bloc will close its airspace to Russian airlines, fund arms supplies to Ukraine and ban pro-Kremlin media, reports AP. "We are shutting down the EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircraft including the private jets of oligarchs. Second, we will ban the Kremlin’s media machine in the EU," President EU Commission Ursula Von der Leyen said.

These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU. Von der Leyen also said that the EU will ban "the Kremlin's media machine. The state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, as well as their subsidiaries, will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin's war and to sow division in our union."

Von der Leyen added that the EU will also target Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko for supporting Russia's widespread military campaign in Ukraine. "We will hit Lukashenko's regime with a new package of sanctions," she said. She had also said that this was the first time ever that the 27-nation bloc European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack.

EU will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and equipment to a country under attack. We are also strengthening our sanctions against the Kremlin. We will target the other aggressor in this war, Lukashenko’s regime, with a new package of sanctions: President EU Commission pic.twitter.com/xO4ZzhGRIP

— ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2022

Earlier, following the footsteps of many other European countries, France closed its airspace to all Russian aircraft as the West builds pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering an invasion of Ukraine. To the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe responds with total unity, Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari tweeted Sunday.  Air France announced that it was suspending flights to and from Russia for safety reasons "until further notice." Earlier, German airline Lufthansa cancelled all upcoming flights to Russia and announced that "flights that are in Russian airspace" would "leave it again shortly".

The United States, Japan and European nations had also cut key Russian banks from the SWIFT international financial messaging system to step up sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.