This will mean Ukraine is winning: Zelenskyy on potential resumption of flights in Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that the Ukrainian government is working on resuming flights from Ukraine, but he made it clear that flights from Boryspil Airport are a distant prospect.
Source: Zelenskyy at his end-of-year press conference on 19 December
Details: A Polish correspondent asked Zelenskyy about a technical flight carried out from Boryspil Airport on 19 December. It turned out Zelenskyy was not aware of this. When he was informed of the backstory - the journalist’s mother had asked when she would be able to fly to Kyiv - Zelenskyy replied jokingly: "At the moment we can only help you by giving your mother a train carriage."
But he made it clear that this will become possible when Ukraine’s victory is closer.
Quote: "Boryspil is like the Black Sea. To be honest, this is a very serious operation. Opening Boryspil Airport would be a victory for the Ukrainian air defence. This would mean that Ukraine is winning. This is very serious.
This is also a powerful economic step. I’ll be honest with you: we've been asking our colleagues about this and we know exactly what we need.
So tell your mother to stay healthy and that we are working on her idea [to resume flights at Boryspil]."
Background:
- On the morning of 19 December 2023, a technical overhaul of a Boeing 777-300 aircraft without passengers or cargo was carried out from Boryspil Airport, despite the airspace being closed, at the request of Skyline Express. This was the fourth successful overhaul of an aircraft from Boryspil Airport since the beginning of the war.
- Staff at Boryspil said the technical overhaul of the aircraft should contribute to testing the policy of recovery and pave the way for "regular operations to be resumed as soon as the appropriate risk assessment allows".
- On 1 December, Andrii Yermak, Head of the President's Office, expressed confidence that flights to and from Boryspil Airport would soon resume, as "we are now able to ensure the safety of this facility".
- Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to the head of the President’s Office, has said that the reopening of Boryspil Airport would only be possible when the sky over Ukraine is completely free of Russian missiles and drones.
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