Early bird: London's Heathrow is closed due to a fire. President Pavel is in Ukraine, Russians are attacking nearby.
Electrical substation near Heathrow Airport is on fire, flights are cancelled
Heathrow Airport will be closed all day on Friday due to a large fire in a nearby electrical substation that supplies it. The closure of the airport is expected to last until 23:59. Heathrow, the busiest airport in the United Kingdom, has warned of "significant disruption" in the coming days and has urged passengers not to travel under any circumstances until the airport is reopened.
According to the Flightradar24 website, which monitors flights, Friday's closure will affect at least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow. A fire in a substation in Hayes in west London left thousands of households without power and caused the evacuation of around 150 people from surrounding properties. The cause of the fire is not yet known, BBC reports.
President Pavel is in Ukraine
On Thursday, President Petr Pavel visited the Ukrainian city of Odessa, where, according to local news, there are air raids and fires. The presidential delegation is expected to be out of danger.
"I arrived in Ukrainian Odessa, which has been resisting Russian aggression since the start of the war. From the Czech Republic, aid is travelling here in the form of combat vehicles, drones, protective vests, mobile jammers, which protect the inhabitants from drone attacks, and also medical equipment, such as ventilators and hospital beds,"
the president said about the visit according to CTK. Petr Pavel will proceed with a visit to the capital city of Kyiv.
