Airspace above Ukraine and western Russia mostly empty; flight tracker shows

Airspace above Ukraine and western Russia is mostly empty, with planes in the area steering clear of the border regions, imagery from flight tracking service Flightradar24 shows on Thursday.

Ukraine’s aviation authorities early Thursday issued a notice restricting the country’s airspace, covering the regions around Kyiv, Dnipro, Lviv, Odessa, and Simferopol.

European aviation regulators have also warned that any civilian aircraft near the Ukrainian border could face a “high risk” of being targeted.