KYIV: Fifteen of Ukraine’s civilian airports have been damaged since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was quoted as saying by local media on Saturday.

Ukraine, which the state aviation service says has 20 civilian airports, has been exploring avenues to partially open its airspace. It has been completely closed since the start of the war.

Ukrainians who want to fly abroad currently have to go via road or rail to neighbouring countries to catch flights. For those living in the east, the journey out of Ukraine can take a day in itself.

“We conducted a risk assessment and determined the needs of the air defence forces to partially open the airspace,” local news agency Ukrinform quoted Shmyhal as saying at a transportation conference. “Security issues and the military situation remain key to this decision,” he said.

Shmyhal added that Russia had attacked Ukraine’s port infrastructure nearly 60 times in the last three months, damaging or destroying nearly 300 facilities and 22 civilian vessels.

A senior partner at insurance broker Marsh McLennan said earlier this month that Ukraine could reopen the airport in the western city of Lviv in 2025 if regulators deem it safe and a political decision is made.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2024