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Flight tracker shows almost empty airspace above Ukraine as Russia attacks

plain flightradar ukraine screenshot
Commercial flights are avoiding Ukraine airspace on February 24, 2022. FlightRadar24
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A flight tracker shows empty airspace over Ukraine after Russia attacked Ukraine on Thursday morning, and explosions were reported across the country.

Ukraine announced it was closing its airspace to commercial flights from 2:45 a.m. local time Thursday, Reuters reported.

The screenshot of FlightRadar24, as seen above, was taken shortly before 10:50 a.m. Ukrainian time Thursday.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency called Ukraine "an active conflict zone" and warned that any commercial flights within 100 nautical miles of the Russian and Belarus borders could also pose safety risks.

Russia also announced Thursday that it was suspending domestic flights to and from several airports near the Ukrainian border until March 2, Reuters reported.

Moldova, which borders much of eastern Ukraine, also closed its airspace on Thursday morning, the country's deputy prime minister said.

The country also closed some airspace in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, which borders eastern Ukraine, "in order to provide safety" for civilian flights, Reuters reported.

Many global airlines, including Air France, KLM, and Lufthansa, canceled flights to Ukraine in recent days.

The aviation industry has been cautious since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged people to stay calm, telling them to "stay at home."

 

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Sophia Ankel was a Senior News Reporter based in Insider's London office. She covered he war in Ukraine for more than a year and frequently covers politics, international conflict, and digital culture stories. Sophia also worked on multiple investigations, most recently looking into the meat empire of Nusret Gökce, also known as Salt Bae.Other features include a look inside the international legion in Ukraine, alleged sexual harassment by food delivery drivers, and the London police's (mis)handling of online sexual abuse reports.In 2018, Sophia won The Guardian's Hugo Young Award for her political opinion piece about image-based abuse.She also has bylines in the Guardian, The Independent, and VICE and has spoken about her work on BBC Three Radio and ESPN's "The Right Time."