The Ukrainian government will spend $590 million to insure flights in its airspace amid concerns over a possible Russian invasion, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced the move Sunday after many airline insurers announced they would no longer insure flights which entered Ukrainian airspace, which could have grounded all air travel to and from Ukraine.
At the same time, Andriy Yarmak, the director of the Ukrainian state air traffic service, warned airlines not to fly over the Black Sea from tomorrow until Saturday due to Russian military exercises in the area.
Last night, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called on all Israelis in Ukraine to leave the country immediately. Israel has returned the families of its diplomatic staff in Ukraine to Israel, but unlike most countries has not evacuated its diplomats from the country.
Today, Lapid told reporters: "There are between 10,000 and 15,000 Jews in Ukraine, most of them in Kyiv. About half of them are registered on the embassy link and each one receives a personal message to make sure they have been in contact with them. The rest are attempting to get in touch. The country also has one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. We are in close contact with them and the embassy is working with them."
He said, "According to political and intelligence sources who speak with us, we have a very short window of time to get the Israelis out of Ukraine and I tell them: return to Israel before the situation gets complicated. We still hope the situation will be resolved diplomatically, but we have responsibilities towards Israelis and Jewish communities there. Israel is the capital of the Jewish people and we should be there for them."
Lapid clarified that in the coming week there will be many flights from Ukraine and the airlines are also ready for the possibility of adding additional flights. "We are preparing for the possibility of the sky being closed, even though at the moment that is not happening. We have opened up the possibility of evacuating people over land with countries bordering Ukraine in order to get Jews and Israelis out."