War has caused significant damage to most of Ukraine's civilian airports, PM Shmyhal says
At least 15 of Ukraine's 20 civilian airports have sustained damage since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Nov. 30.
Ukraine, which has kept its airspace entirely closed since the all-out war began, has been exploring options to partially reopen it. Currently, Ukrainians traveling abroad must use road or rail to reach neighboring countries, most often Poland, to catch flights. For those in the eastern regions, the journey out of Ukraine alone can take up to a day.
"We conducted a risk assessment and determined the needs of the air defense forces to partially open the airspace," Shmyhal said during a transportation conference, according to the local news agency Ukrinform. "Security issues and the military situation remain key to this decision," he added.
Shmyhal also noted that Russia had targeted Ukraine's port infrastructure nearly 60 times over the past three months, damaging or destroying close to 300 facilities and 22 civilian vessels.
Earlier this month, Crispin Ellison, a senior partner at insurance broker Marsh McLennan, said that one of Ukraine's airports, Lviv or Boryspil International Airport, close to the capital, could potentially resume operations by the end of January 2025.
Ellison noted during the Kyiv International Economic Forum that securing aviation insurance will be easier if planes use Lviv Airport, but President Volodymyr Zelensky insists that Boryspil be opened first.
"Opening Lviv is the beginning of a journey to opening up Boryspil," Ellison told a Kyiv Independent reporter on Nov. 7. The Presidential Office will make the final decision on the flights, considering the security situation and the performance of Ukrainian air defense.
Daria Shulzhenko
