Ukraine’s secretary of national security and defense, Oleksandr Turchynov
Russia said it has had no response from Ukraine regarding its request that Kyiv cancel a planned missile test over the Ukrainian region of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Russian Transportation Minister Maksim Sokolov told reporters in Moscow on November 29 that he had expressed concerns over Kyiv’s plans to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
On November 24, Ukraine issued a formal notice to airmen on airspace danger zones in connection with the planned tests. Kyiv said the tests will be conducted in accordance with international regulations entirely in Ukraine’s airspace over the open sea.
Kyiv plans to test air-to-air combat missile systems.
On November 25, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) condemned Ukraine’s plans, calling them “a violation of all international agreements and a unilateral decision to conduct missile firing in Russia’s sovereign airspace.”
Ukraine’s secretary of national security and defense, Oleksandr Turchynov, then called Rosaviatsia’s statement “hysteria,” saying that Russia’s sovereign airspace in the Black Sea ends in the middle of the Kerch Strait, where Kyiv does not plan to hold any tests.
Based on reporting by UNIAN, Interfax, and TASS
