No procedure exists for NATO aircraft in Ukraine’s airspace — aviation expert

Hennadiy Khazan, president of the Ukrainian Aviation Association of Pilots and Aircraft Owners AOPA Ukraine, said this on Espreso TV.

“In my personal view, based on my own knowledge and discussions with specialists, I want to note that, most likely, under current conditions, this is a scenario that is almost impossible to implement. That is, foreign military combat aircraft cannot simply operate in Ukraine’s airspace,” he said.

Khazan emphasized that Americans and Europeans will not take such risks without reason.

“I do not know exactly why such examples appear, but without decisive measures, for example by the Ukrainian parliament, legislatively, there is no basis for American, British, Polish, or other military aircraft to enter and conduct flights in Ukraine’s airspace,” the aviator added.

He said that the Russians could use this for propaganda purposes.

“And then, what will Russia say? ‘Now we are fighting NATO, now we really have proof that we are at war with NATO.’ After that, there will be a series of their assumptions or seemingly factual statements, even if they are contrived, but how could you verify them?” the aviation expert said.

Khazan added that it would be helpful to know and understand if our European and American partners disclose the procedure under which this could happen.

“And if the procedure is made public, it would be a very serious signal for all Russians, especially for Vladimir Putin, that this is serious and will happen in this way. As of now, no source has published any procedure for carrying out such flights, which gives me reason to believe that this issue has not been fully worked out,” he concluded.

• According to Reuters, U.S. Air Force fighter jets could enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine as one of the postwar security guarantee options for the country.