Feb 14, 2022: Amid warnings from the West, some airlines have canceled or diverted flights to Ukraine, citing concerns of an attack by Russia even as Kyiv says it will keep its airspace open.

Russia denies planning to invade Ukraine despite gathering tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border and critizizing the West for “peak hysteria”. The call between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to make a breakthrough on Saturday, prompting the United States to warn Russia against imposing sanctions on military aggression.

Reflecting the concerns of Western powers, Dutch airline KLM has canceled flights to Ukraine until further notice, the company said on Saturday. Following the shooting down of a Malaysian jetliner en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukraine airpsace occupied by Russian rebels in 2014, Dutch sensitivity to potential danger in Ukrainian airspace is high.

Ukraine’s chartered airline SkyUp said on Sunday that its flight from Madeira, Portugal, had been diverted from Kyiv to Chisinau, the Moldovan capital after the plane’s Irish leasing company revoked its permission to enter Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government on Sunday allocated 16.6 billion hryvnia ($ 592m) to guarantee the continuation of flights through Ukrainian airspace, Prime Minister Denis Schmygl said.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure held an emergency meeting aimed at maintaining foreign travel and preventing the country from becoming more isolated in the heat of the crisis. The ministry said after Sunday’s meeting that “airspace over Ukraine is open and the state is working to address threats to airlines.” Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure acknowledges that “some carriers face difficulties associated with fluctuations in the insurance market.

According to Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Ukrainian insurers have again received reports from insurers that the airlines are npt covered by the risks of war.

Meanwhile, after the US, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Slovakia, Israel, Italy, Germany, Turkey and the Netherlands are among the countries that have advised their citizens to leave Ukraine and not to travel there.

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