Biden administration has imposed a ban on Russian citizen who own or lease aircrafts in the United States from piloting those planes in the country’s airspace. According to a notice to air missions, the Federation Aviation Administration (FAA) declares that “all aircrafts, regardless of the state of registry, owned, chartered, leased, operated or controlled by, for, or for the benefit of, a person who is a citizen of the Russian Federation are prohibited from operating to, from, within or through US territorial airspace, except for aircraft engaged in humanitarian or SAR [search and rescue] operation specifically authorized by the FAA.
Earlier, President Joe Biden in an announcement said that all US airspace was closed to Russian aircrafts. The FAA’s announcement, which banned Russian airlines from operating in US airspace as worded, also bars any Russian citizen from even operating an aircraft in US airspace.
“The FAA-issued NOTAM does exactly what the president announced,” the FAA said in a statement to Defense One.
The notice grants exceptions to any Russian flight given diplomatic clearance by the State Department or an aircraft experiencing an in-flight emergency.
Aircraft that do not comply “may be intercepted, and their pilots and other crewmembers detained and interviewed by law enforcement or security personnel”.
Meanwhile, according to news reports, Ukrainian firefighters on Friday extinguished a blaze at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant that was ignited by Russian shelling, as Russian forces seized control of the site and pressed their campaign to cripple the country despite global condemnation.
Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator said that no changes in radiation levels have been recorded so far after the Zaporizhzhia plant came under attack, and no casualties have been reported. But it caused worldwide concern — and evoked memories of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, at Ukraine’s Chernobyl.
The shelling of the plant came as the Russian military advanced on a strategic city on the Dnieper River near where the facility is located, and gained ground in their bid to cut the country off from the sea. That move would deal a severe blow to Ukraine’s economy and could worsen an already dire humanitarian situation.
With the invasion in its second week, another round of talks between Russia and Ukraine yielded a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid to the country, overturned by a war that has sent more than 1 million fleeing over the border and countless others sheltering underground night after night. A handful cities are without heat and at least one is struggling to get food and water.
Reports conflicted over whether one or two fires broke out at the plant in the city of Enerhodar. Nuclear plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television overnight that shells fell directly on the facility, and set fire to reactor No. 1, which is under renovation and not operating, and to an administrative training building.
On Friday morning, officials only referenced a blaze at the training building when they said that all fires at the plant were out. The regional military administration reported unspecified damage to the compartment of reactor No. 1, but said it does not affect the safety of the power unit.
The nuclear regulator said staff are studying the site to check for other damage.
The confusion itself underscored the dangers of active fighting near a nuclear power plant. It was the second time since the invasion began just over a week ago that concerns about a nuclear accident or a release of radiation materialized, following a battle at Chernobyl.
The regulator noted in a statement on Facebook the importance of maintaining the ability to cool nuclear fuel, saying the loss of such ability could lead to an accident even worse than 1986 Chernobyl disaster or the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns in Japan. It also noted that there is a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at the site, though there was no sign that facility was hit by shelling.
Leading nuclear authorities were worried but not panicked. The assault led to phone calls between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Joe Biden and other world leaders. The US Department of Energy activated its nuclear incident response team as a precaution.
