"Russia insists on an unconditional cessation of these irresponsible practices by Ukraine which endanger the safety of civil aviation flights," the [Russian foreign] ministry said in a statement.
See? Both sides have acted a little inappropriately. Russia invades and seizes a province. Ukraine keeps flight crews on their planes. We're all guilty of something, eh? So let's just call it even.
It's the most amazing bit of moral equivalence nonsense I've seen in quite a while.
As an aside, if Russian propaganda is saying that Ukraine is threatening ethnic Russians, why is Russia flying in new potential victims into the very heart of the beast?