NEW YORK, March 2. /TASS/. The United States is set to close its airspace for Russian planes, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing own sources.

According to the report, the formal announcement may be made within the next 24 hours.

In turn, ABC reported with reference to anonymous sources that US President Joe Biden may announce the move in his State of the Union Address. The address is to begin at 21:00 local time (05:00 Moscow time).

The United Kingdom was the first to close its airspace for Russian planes on February 25. On February 27, foreign ministers of the 27 EU member states approved full closure of the union’s airspace for Russian aircraft. Canada followed suit shortly after. In response, Russia announced it was closing its airspace for 36 nations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address early on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Western nations have imposed sanctions in response, both personal and sectoral, targeting among other things Russia’s government debt and banking sector.