Donetsk, Mar 19 — DAN. Russian army is already using the Mariupol airport which is expected to start servicing civil flights in 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on Sunday when President Vladimir Putin made a working trip to the city.

“We’ll start renovating the [building of the airport] in late 2023; we plan that it will be a full-fledged airport with the opportunity to fly to destinations in Russia and abroad, ” TASS quoted Khusnullin as saying.

The project is to be completed in in 2025. The airport is currently being used by the military The nearest airports in Rostov and Taganrog are 150 kilometers away, he said.

Last December, DPR Prime Minister Vitaly Khotsenko said that work had been launched to rebuild the Mariupol airport. It will service MC-21, Tu-204, Boeing 737 and A-320 civil aircraft and Il-72 military transport planes.*jk