By the Associated Press:
Europe and Canada said Sunday they would close their airspace to Russian airlines after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, raising the pressure on the United States to do the same.
“We are shutting down the EU airspace for Russians,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Canada’s transport minister, Omar Alghabra, said his nation was closing its airspace to all Russian planes to hold the country accountable for an unprovoked attack on its neighbor.
The European Union action came after many of its member countries had said they were barring Russian planes or planned to do so by Sunday night.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo tweeted that European skies are “open for those who connect people, not for those who seek to brutally aggress.”
“There is no room in Dutch airspace for a regime that applies unnecessary and brutal violence,” Mark Harbers, the Netherlands’ minister of infrastructure and waterworks, said on Twitter.
A handful of European nations including Spain, Greece and Turkey had resisted closing their airspace before von der Leyen’s announcement.
