Ukraine stops direct flights to Russia

          Direct Flights between Ukraine and Russia expires Saturday night, reports the BBC. Ukraine punish Russia for the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

From midnight, it will no longer fly directly between Moscow and Kiev. Ukraine punish Russia for the annexation of the Crimea and the support to pro-Russian rebels by prohibiting Russian airlines to operate in Ukraine.

Russia calls the Ukrainian ban ´`madness``.

        The BBC has interviewed angry Ukrainian travelers at the airport in Kiev.The government does things and so it is the people who suffer, said Ukrainian Alexander Visjnevskij, whose wife and daughter live in Russia. Half of Ukrainians are married to Russians, so this is total nonsense, he added.

       If the decision comes into force, travelers between the two countries fly via other countries or take the train. The train trip between Kiev and Moscow takes 13 hours.

It underway last-minute talks to resolve the crisis, but they do not seem to lead anywhere, according to the BBC.

Yle Finland(Svenska)