Map shows deserted skies above war-torn Ukraine after Russian invasion

The airspace above Ukraine has been left deserted amid warnings Europe faces its "darkest hours" since 1945 after Russia mounted a "full-scale" invasion.

Stark flight tracking maps show parts of Europe covered in a blanket of flights, while all of Ukraine lays bare after airspace was closed to all civilian flights.

Also empty are the skies above south Belarus, western Russia and the Black Sea - all where Russian troops are stationed.

Moldova, southwest of Ukraine, also closed its airspace, after Putin authorised the military operation.

Ukraine State Air Traffic Services Enterprise confirmed the country's airspace was closed to civilian flights from 0045 GMT on Thursday. Air traffic services were suspended.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said airspace in Russia and Belarus within 100 nautical miles of their borders with Ukraine could also pose safety risks.

Read more: Vladimir Putin launches full-scale invasion with explosions heard near Kyiv

"In particular, there is a risk of both intentional targeting and misidentification of civil aircraft," the agency said in a conflict zone bulletin.

"The presence and possible use of a wide range of ground and airborne warfare systems poses a high risk for civil flights operating at all altitudes and flight levels."

Read more: Ukrainians flee Kyiv under air raid sirens as Russia launches 'full-scale invasion'

The aviation industry has taken heightened notice of the risks conflicts pose to civil aviation since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014, when fighting in the region flared.

Children were among 298 people killed in the tragedy.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said: "These are among the darkest hours of Europe since the Second World War.

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The severity if the situation cannot be understated.

Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisor Anton Herashchenko said: "Starting today, the world has a new geopolitical reality. Either Ukraine and the world will stop the new Hitler now, or there will be a Third World War."

Fighting has broken out across the country after Putin launched the invasion in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Thousands have been desperately trying to flee the country and take refuge in neighbouring countries. Fighting extended across Ukraine throughout Thursday, reaching the outskirts of the capital of Kyiv where Russian airborne troops seized an airport.

The international community has responded with fury at what has unfolded, with Boris Johnson vowing that Britain “cannot and will not just look away”.

The prime minister extended punitive measures on Thursday to hit five further oligarchs, including the Russian President’s former son-in-law, and to target more than 100 businesses and individuals.

Johnson said he was sanctioning “all the major manufacturers that support Putin’s war machine”, will ban Aeroflot from touching down planes in the UK and will freeze the assets of all major Russian banks, including immediately against VTB.

His second barrage of measures designed to “hobble the Russian economy” and punish Moscow’s ally Belarus came as the Kremlin hit Ukraine with a wide-ranging attack, targeting cities and bases with air strikes.