Azerbaijan Airlines suspends all flights to Russia amid Putin's aggression in Ukraine

Amid international condemnation and boycott of Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, Azerbaijan Airlines has suspended all flights from the country to Moscow and other Russian cities. As this ban is absolute, the Azerbaijani airline Buta Airways also refuses to fly to the Vladimir Putin-led country. The restriction comes to the fore after Putin on Saturday said that any country which sought to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine would be considered by Moscow to have entered the armed conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a virtual conference with the United States Senate on Saturday, March 5, appealing for a 'no-fly-zone', a ban on Russian oil, and the suspension of Visa and Mastercard cards in Russia.

During the Zoom call, Zelenskyy requested more lethal aid to take on Russia and urged that the US must embargo Russian oil, reports stated. 

NATO rejects 'no-fly zone' demand, Putin sends warning

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's demand for a 'no-fly zone' from the United States emerged after NATO had refused to accept the Ukraine President's request. Underlining that NATO was 'not a part of this conflict', Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday stated that the only way for the organisation to implement a no-fly zone would be to send NATO planes to shoot down Russian ones, which could turn out to be a 'big' escalation risk.

"We understand the desperation, but we also believe that if we did that, we would end up with something that could lead to a full-fledged war in Europe, involving much more countries and much more suffering," he said. 

Lambasting NATO in a fiery speech, Zelenskyy accused the organisation of giving a 'green light' to Russia to bomb their cities. “All the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you, because of your weakness, because of your lack of unity,” he said. “The alliance has given the green light to the bombing of Ukrainian cities and villages by refusing to create a no-fly zone," he added.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a fresh warning, stating that any country that sought to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine would be considered by Moscow to have entered the armed conflict. 

Russia Ukraine war 

According to the United Nations migration agency, 1.45 million Ukrainians have left the country since Russia's invasion. The International Organisation for Migration said that 7,87,300 refugees have fled to Poland, 228,700 went to Moldova, 144,700 to Hungary, 132,600 to Romania and 100,500 to Slovakia.