kyiv’s remarks on the dangerousness of Russian skies have been heard. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) called on all its members on Wednesday September 2 to commit to “protecting civil aircraft” from “risks” coming from “conflict zones”.
The UN agency, based in Montreal, said in a statement “to reiterate its calls for reinforced commitments from all member states to protect civilian aircraft against all risks arising from conflict zones.”
War in Ukraine: Russian drones track civilians, “human safaris” multiply
According to ICAO, “the risk of civilian aircraft being targeted or caught in firefights is increasing” and it is therefore “essential that Member States assess the security of the airspace they control and take all appropriate measures.”
The call, which does not mention any specific country, comes on the day the organization was officially notified by Ukraine that Russian airspace was “unsafe.”
Civil aviation has “no place in a sky infested with drones”, according to Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Tuesday that Russian skies were becoming “extremely dangerous” due to Ukrainian drones.
“Ukraine does not want innocent lives to be lost. That is why we are warning our partners: the safe days in Russian skies are over,” he said, asserting that if civil aviation was not targeted “per se”, it had “no place in a sky infested with drones”.
Also readDrone incursions, sabotage, cyberattacks, espionage: is Moscow pushing Europe to the limit?
The Ukrainian head of state affirmed that it was a “fair” response to “Russia’s desire to prolong the war”, accusing it of “terror against civilians”.
His Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin replied that this was a “declaration of state terrorism”.
With AFP
