ICAO talks with Russia and Ukraine progressing over Black Sea corridor

The ICAO, Russia and the Ukraine have been making progress in talks over re-entry of international air traffic in airspace over the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Managed by Ukraine, the airspace lies off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula, an area which was annexed by Russia in 2014 and since then has become a no-fly zone.
ICAO Secretary-General, Fang Liu, stated that “We actively engage the states in that region, in particular Ukraine and Russia, to make the states to coordinate and so far I think there has been some progress but at this stage I think they still did not find a solution.”
The airspace in question used to be on a busy route taken by commercial planes on long-haul flights to both Asia and the Middle East. While security has been a major issue since the downing of flight MH17 in April 2014, that incident took place over the Crimea and Ukraine, not the area currently in question. However there is concern that pilots may receive conflicting instructions from Russian and Ukrainian air flight controllers covering areas around and including the Black Sea corridor.
Currently it is the Ukraine which has been delegated by the ICAO to manage the corridor and it is the Ukraine who has made the request to have it opened up once again to international traffic.
“We’re trying to see how we can find, through the states’ cooperation, a technical solution to ensure the operation of airspace of these countries that can be maintained at the safety level… (and) can facilitate international air transport operations,” Liu is reported as saying.