Belarus, Ukraine close airspace because of ash

MINSK/KIEV, April 17 (Reuters) - Belarus closed its airspace on Saturday and Ukraine's Kiev and other airports were closed to flights because of the huge volcanic ash cloud drifting over Europe, aviation authorities and airline officials said.

The aviation department at the Belarussian transport ministry said the country had closed its airspace overnight. Officials from Ukraine International Airlines and Aerosvit said Kiev airport would be closed until 3 p.m. (1200 GMT).

Ukraine's Lvov, Odessa, Donetsk, Simferopol and Dnepropetrovsk airports were also closed to flights for an unspecified period, they said.

(Reporting by Yuri Kulikov in Kiev and Andrei Makhovsky in Minsk; Writing by Matt Robinson in Moscow; editing by Tim Pearce) Keywords: EUROPE AIR/UKRAINE BELARUS ([e-mail]; [phone]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.