On Thursday, Volodymyr Omelyan and his family awoke to the sound of missile blasts nearby. By Friday, he had said goodbye to his wife and children and enlisted to fight.
Russian private jets will now be barred from UK airspace in an extension of a ban that previously included Russia’s major airline, Aeroflot.
“Putin’s actions are unlawful and anyone benefiting from Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is not welcome here,” UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Friday evening.
He added that he has “strengthened” the previous flight ban on UK airspace to now include any “Russian private jet.” The ban is effective immediately, meaning private flights cannot enter UK airspace or touch down there.
Putin’s actions are unlawful and anyone benefitting from Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is not welcome here. I’ve strengthened our ban in the UK so that no Russian private jet can fly in UK airspace, or touchdown – effective immediately.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had already suspended Aerflot’s foreign carrier permit “until further notice” in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military actions in Ukraine. Putin announced he ordered a “special military operation” in Donbass on Thursday morning, insisting the offensive is needed to protect the people of the Lugansk and Donetsk republics from what Moscow sees as “Ukraine aggression.”
The Russian leader said the ultimate goal of the operation, which has since extended to the Ukrainian territories, was to “demilitarize and denazify” the country. Ukraine, the UN, NATO, the US, and the EU all denounced the military action as an “unprovoked” aggression.
The UK had previously announced a ban on Aeroflot as part of a series of economic sanctions against Russia over its attack on Ukraine. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday the sanctions were meant to “hobble” the Russian economy, and on Friday, he pushed NATO allies to take their own sanctions further, advocating for banning Russia from the SWIFT payment system, which connects financial institutions around the world. He also said Putin and his foreign minister will be personally sanctioned “imminently.”
Russia responded to the original UK ban by announcing that all UK-registered flights were banned from their airspace. Aeroflot also announced on Friday flights to London and the Irish capital city of Dublin had been axed.
LONDON, Feb 25 (IPS) – It is now clear diplomacy matters little to Vladimir Putin. Despite the efforts of a string of presidents and prime ministers to prevent conflict, on 24 February, Putin started the war he’d been itching for.
The Federated States of Micronesia has accused Moscow of an “unambiguously villainous” attack
The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) announced on Friday that it has formally severed diplomatic relations with Moscow, after Russian troops attacked Ukrainian military installations.
“The FSM condemns the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, and the unjustified and brutal assault on its people and territory, which our country recognizes as unambiguously villainous and holds in the highest form of contempt,” the nation’s government said in a statement on its website.
The move comes after President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to attack military targets across Ukraine. The operation began in the early hours of Thursday, with Putin claiming it was necessary to “demilitarize and denazify” Russia’s neighbor.
Although it has cut diplomatic ties with Russia over the current situation, the FSM left the door open for the two sides to renew relations in the future if Moscow “demonstrates actionable commitments to peace, friendship, cooperation, and love in our common humanity.”
The Russian government has not yet publicly responded to the move. While Moscow and the FSM established ties in 1999, Russia does not have an embassy in the Pacific nation and contact between the two countries is thought to be limited. The FSM consists of some 607 islands, totaling 702 square kilometers, of which only 65 are inhabited, with a population of just under 114,000.
The FSM’s decision to cut diplomatic ties comes after the US, the UK, the EU, and NATO condemned what they called Russia’s “unprovoked” attack on Ukraine. Sanctions have been imposed globally on Moscow in response to its military activity in the country.
