Russia will not allow Ukraine to seriously disrupt civil aviation despite Zelenskiy's threat, minister says

Russia will not ​allow Ukraine to seriously ​disrupt civil aviation ‌operations despite ​a threat by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to do so, Russia's transport minister ‌said on Wednesday. Zelenskiy warned airlines and insurance companies on Tuesday that the presence of Ukrainian drones had made Russian ‌airspace dangerous to use and said it was effectively ‌closed.

“Of course, we are preparing for this and taking all these threats into account. We are constantly improving flight safety and airport security ⁠requirements, ​and we ⁠have solutions for all of this. We have solutions for all ⁠the threats that terrorists are voicing," Andrei Nikitin, Russia's transport minister, was ​cited as saying by the Interfax news agency. "We ⁠are working in close contact with the Ministry of Defence and ⁠the ​Russian National Guard. And I believe that we will not allow any significant disruption to civil aviation.”

President ⁠Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Zelenskiy's warning sounded like Ukraine ⁠intended ⁠to commit "state terrorism." He said Moscow would find a way to respond if it happened.