*German flag carrier Lufthansa Airlines follows several other European airlines, as it plans to cancel flight services to and from the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Odessa from Monday, February 21

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Amid growing fears of a possible Russian invasion, Lufthansa Airlines, Germany’s flag carrier, is suspending flights to and from the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Odessa, a spokesperson said Saturday, February 19, 2022.

ConsumerConnect learnt that the transnational airlines would conduct some last flights to those cities over the weekend before suspending airlifts from Monday, February 21 until the end of the month.

It will continue to fly to the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, said the source.

Lufthansa is constantly monitoring the situation, and will decide on further flights at a later date, stated the Spokesperson.

It is noted the airlines is following several other European airlines, which have already cancelled flight services to and from Ukraine in recent times.

Germany’s foreign ministry earlier Saturday told its nationals to leave the country, agency report said.

Recall that the Nigerian Embassy in Ukraine in a statement issued January 26, and amid the rising tensions between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States over Russia’s possible ‘further’ incursion into Ukraine, informed its citizens living in Ukraine to avoid unnecessary travel within the country.

The West African country’s Embassy also urged the concerned citizens to take their individual and collective security seriously, as well as ensure that they always carry requisite identifications while in transit in the foreign country.

Russia test-fires missiles in strategic drills

In tune with the United States President Joe Biden’s recent pronouncement that he is convinced  that Russia would invade Ukraine soon, Russia Saturday, February 19 successfully test-fired its latest hypersonic, cruise and nuclear-capable ballistic missiles as part of “planned exercises”.

As tensions soar over Ukraine, Kremlin in a statement said: “All the missiles hit their targets, confirming their performance objectives,” adding that the drills included Tu-95 bombers and submarines, reports AFP .

Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov told Russian President Vladimir Putin in televised comments, that “the main objective of these exercises is to perfect the performance of our strategic offensive forces, with the aim of delivering a guaranteed strike against the enemy.”

The Russian leader watched the drills from the Kremlin’s situation room with visiting Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

Gerasimov said the strategic drills involved two stages.

The first was to test the work of “weapons of heightened potential menace.

“The second involves the sanctioned, massive use of strategic offensive weapons of the Russian Federation in case of a retaliatory strike,” the general said.

The drills included Russia’s Black and North Sea navies, as well as the country’s strategic forces, the Kremlin said.