Zelensky orders government to stop direct flights between Ukraine and Belarus

According to the report, this issue was discussed at a meeting attended by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputies Heads of the President's Office Yulia Svyrydenko and Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

"Given the current situation, the president instructed the government to work out a decision to terminate direct flights between Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus and close the airspace of Belarus for flights from Ukraine and to our country," the President's Office said.

According to the report, the participants in the meeting analyzed the situation with a Ryanair passenger plane, which made a forced landing at Minsk airport on May 23.

On Sunday, May 23, Belarusian security forces detained the founder of the Telegram channel Nexta, Roman Protasevich, after they forced a Ryanair plane, on which he was traveling from Athens to Vilnius, to land in Minsk.

The Belarusian opposition said that in general, two Belarusian citizens and four Russian citizens did not fly to Vilnius after the plane landed in Minsk. Among them were Protasevich and his girlfriend.

op