Russia launches full-scale invasion of Ukraine, closing its airspace

On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with missile strikes and ground attacks from several directions. It escalated a war that had begun in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and fighting in the eastern Donbas region.

One of the first practical consequences was the closure of Ukrainian airspace to civilian flights. Airports stopped operating, and the country's normal air routes for patients and medical staff disappeared almost overnight.

As a result, wounded civilians and soldiers who needed treatment abroad had to be moved over land. Evacuations relied mostly on trains and ambulances, travelling west to the border with Poland. Poland, a neighbour and NATO member, became the main gateway for patients, with hospitals there receiving many of them or passing them on to other European countries.

These land journeys were slow and demanding, often taking many hours and putting strain on seriously injured patients. That limitation shaped Ukraine's medical evacuation system in the years that followed.