During his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Biden announced that the U.S. would ban all Russian aircraft from entering American airspace, in retaliation for the ongoing military assault on Ukraine.
“Tonight, I'm announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American airspace to all Russian flights, further isolating Russia and adding an additional squeeze on their economy,” he said.
The president’s announcement follows similar moves by Canada and the European Union to ban Russian planes from entering their airspace.
While stopping short of committing ground troops or enacting a no-fly zone over Ukraine, the U.S. and its allies have already imposed stern sanctions against Russia — including directly targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — as global condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine continues to grow.
