Airspace over Crimea belongs to Ukraine, International Civil Aviation Organization confirms

KIEV, Ukraine, July 7 (UPI) -- The International Civil Aviation Organization has weighed in on the controversial status of Crimea, confirming that the airspace belongs to Ukraine and not to Russia.

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Maksym Burbak made the announcement at a briefing in Kiev on Monday.

"Today we received a letter from the ICAO, which denies all of the statements in the Russian mass media that any negotiations between ICAO and Russia on the Crimean airspace are being held. The ICAO again confirmed that Crimea is the territory of Ukraine, and only UkSATSE is to provide safety and control [services]."

Russian media had reported ICAO was granting Crimean air rights to Russia.

The Ukrainian government continues to refute Russia's claim of control over Crimea. On June 26, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg that "Our relations cannot be normalized [with Russia] without the return of Crimea."