Ukraine is working “intensively” to restore air travel, which has been suspended for almost two years, a presidential official said Thursday.
The main priority will be Boryspil International Airport, which is outside the capital, Kyiv.
Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine meant the country’s airspace was suddenly forced to close. Since then, people wishing to enter the country have had to do so by roads or railways.
Ukraine now views reopening air travel as a step to helping the economy.
“I don’t want to create overexpectations,” Rostyslav Shurma, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, said during a panel discussion at the Ukrainian House in Davos, Switzerland. “But I can tell you we are working very intensively to recover the air connection in Ukraine.”
“We need to get approvals from the IATA [International Air Transport Association] and FAA [U.S. Federal Aviation Administration], which is not an easy case. And it depends more on the bold decisions of international partners that we believe we’ll get,” Shurma added.
Earlier on Thursday, Russia and Ukraine each reported thwarting drone attacks by the other.
Ukraine’s military reported downing 22 of the 33 drones Russia launched in overnight attacks, while adding that several of the other drones that made it through Ukrainian air defenses did not reach their targets.
Most of the drones were directed at northern and southern Ukraine, including the Sumy, Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses destroyed one Ukrainian drone over the Moscow region, while another was intercepted near the country’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram there were no casualties and no damage from debris that fell from a downed drone.
Ukraine said it hit an oil terminal in St. Petersburg, which a Ukrainian military source told Reuters was targeted as part of a “new stage of work in this region.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
