Russian invasion: Italy latest country to close its airspace to Russian flights

Brussels, Feb 27: Amid Moscow's military action in Ukraine, Italy has become the latest country to join a growing list of nations that have closed their airspace to Russian airlines as the West ramps up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering an invasion of Ukraine, reported news agency AFP.

Earlier, Belgium is closing its airspace to Russian flights, the country's prime minister said on Sunday, adding to a growing number of European countries that have done the same, reports news agency AFP.

Germany's Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure announced that Transport Minister Volker Wissing "supports the blocking of German airspace for Russian aircraft" and had "ordered everything to be prepared for this."

Additionally, German airline Lufthansa cancelled all upcoming flights to Russia and announced that "flights that are in Russian airspace" would "leave it again shortly."

Belgium is the latest in a string of European countries which have closed their airspace to Russian aircraft, including the UK, Poland, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic, among others. Russia responded by closing its own airspace to the countries, the report said.

Russia said on Saturday that it was closing its airspace to planes from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia after they banned Russian planes from their skies. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania, among several other countries, also have a ban in place.