European Union closes airspace to Russian airlines and private jets

The European Union blocked Russian flights from its airspace on Sunday in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine.

"We are shutting down the EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircraft," EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced, adding that Belarus would soon be sanctioned too due to its ties to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

First, we are shutting down the EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircraft.

They won’t be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU.

Including the private jets of oligarchs. pic.twitter.com/o551M9zekQ

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 27, 2022

"These aircraft will no longer be able to land in, take off from, or overfly the territory of the European Union," she said.

Spain closes airspace to Russia

"Spain will proceed to close the airspace to Russian airlines," the Spanish transports ministry tweeted on Sunday. "Following the cooperation guidelines set by the European Union, this measure will have an effect on flights operated by Russian airlines that use Spanish airspace."

Spain will proceed to close the airspace to Russian airlines.

Following the cooperation guidelines set by the European Union, this measure will have an effect on flights operated by Russian airlines that use Spanish airspace.

— Ministerio Transportes, Movilidad y A. Urbana (@mitmagob) February 27, 2022

According to AENA, the Spanish Airport Authority, the Moscow-Barcelona flight scheduled for February 28, 2022, that was set to land at 12:15 pm was canceled. 

The United Kingdom and Norway have also banned Russian planes from their airspace.

Additional EU measures

In addition to banning Russian planes, the EU will censor what von der Leyen described as "the Kremlin's media machine" – that is to say, state-owned media outlets Russia Today and Sputnik – and remove some banks from the SWIFT international payment system. 

"They will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin's war and to sow division in our Union," the European Commission president said. "We are developing tools to ban that toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe."

The EU has also agreed, in an unprecedented move, to send Ukraine €450 million worth of "lethal material" and "urgently needed fuel, protective equipment, and medical supplies," top European diplomat Josep Borrell said.  

"This war requires our engagement in order to support the Ukrainian army," he argued. "It is the first time in our history that the European Union will provide lethal equipment to a third country." 

Hours after these measures were made public, von der Leyen unequivocally stated her opinion on Ukraine's accession to the EU. Ukraine is "one of us and we want them in the European Union," she told the Euronews network. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky asked for his country's "immediate accession" on Monday via a "special procedure" – there are five countries that requested EU membership over 10 years ago and are yet to form enter the union.