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Ukraine’s Kharkiv airport reopens after three-day closure

The airport was closed by Ukraine’s State Aviation Service as Ukraine’s Security Service launched “anti-terror operations” there, the Ukrainian online publication Apostrof reported
Airport in Kharkiv (archive) EPA/JERRY LAMPEN
Airport in Kharkiv (archive)
© EPA/JERRY LAMPEN

KIEV, December 16. /TASS/. The international airport of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, has fully resumed operations after being closed since December 13 over “security reasons.”

The airport was closed by Ukraine’s State Aviation Service along with two other major airports of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia in south-eastern Ukraine as Ukraine’s Security Service launched “anti-terror operations” there, the Ukrainian online publication Apostrof reported.

Flights over Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk are also expected to resume on Tuesday while a flight ban will continue at Zaporizhia airport till Saturday, the head of Ukraine’s State Aviation Service, Denis Antonyuk, said.

“We decided to secure ourselves and extended the flight ban at Zaporizhia airport till Saturday,” Antonyuk told the Ukrainian Internet portal Vesti on Monday, without detailing the reasons behind the move.

The closure came amid Russian media reports that US C-130 Hercules transport planes were unloaded at Zaporizhia airport and the airport’s perimeter was reinforced by hastily erected defensive towers. Militias in eastern Ukraine also reported increased air activity over the airfields in Kramatorsk and Chuhuiv where military equipment was shipped from Dnipropetrovsk.

This is not the first time the Ukrainian State Aviation Service closes Ukrainian airports. Air links with the Ukrainian eastern city of Donetsk have been disrupted since May. Flights between Kharkiv and Moscow were also banned in May and between Dnipropetrovsk and Moscow in December.