The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) is now advising against all travel to Russia as its invasion of Ukraine continues.
Russia invaded on Thursday, and troops are reportedly closing in on the capital Kyiv despite resistance from the Ukrainian army and talks between officials on Ukraine’s order with Belarus.
The UK FCDO had advised against travel to Ukraine on February 14. Transport secretary Grant Shapps banned all Russian airlines from the UK’s airspace on Friday and Russia reciprocated the move. Russia also restricted the number of domestic flights.
The EU followed suit with an airspace ban on Russian carriers, including private jets, after Russia banned airlines from 36 European countries from its airspace.
Aviation analytics firm Cirium reported a 42% drop in flights to, from and flying over Russian airspace after the ban.
On February 20, before the invasion began, there were 792 flights between Russia and European countries. On Sunday (February 27), this had dropped to 462 flights.
| Date | Number of flights to/from Europe in Russian airspace |
| 2022-02-20 | 792 |
| 2022-02-21 | 655 |
| 2022-02-22 | 593 |
| 2022-02-23 | 610 |
| 2022-02-24 | 605 |
| 2022-02-25 | 576 |
| 2022-02-26 | 567 |
| 2022-02-27 | 462 |
Data source: Cirium