This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian State Emergency Service on September 1, 2026 shows a police officer looking at a burning residential building following a Russian strike in Kiev, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP Photo/ State Emergency Service of Ukraine)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that his country’s drones will make Russia’s airspace “completely unsafe” for the duration of the war, drawing accusations of “state terrorism” from Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Both sides have intensified long-range attacks in recent months and diplomatic efforts led by the United States remain stalled more than four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Today, we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer and everyone who still uses Russia’s key airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe,” Zelensky said in his nightly address on Sept. 1.
“Ukraine does not threaten civilian aviation as such, not a single civilian aircraft. There will simply be drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that has to be taken into account,” he said.
Air traffic at Russian airports has been repeatedly disrupted by the approach of Ukrainian drones, the number of which has increased in recent months.
“Drone-infested skies are no place for civilian aviation,” Zelensky said. “The sky over Russia is currently for drones as long as the war continues.”
Putin responded by branding Zelensky’s comments “a declaration of state terrorism.”
“They are asking us to resume negotiations, but you don’t negotiate with terrorists,” Putin said in a televised news conference.
Putin also acknowledged in his address that Ukrainian strikes had damaged infrastructure inside Russia.
“The adversary began delivering strikes on our civilian facilities, including on refineries. Did it cause damage? It did,” Putin said.
“Russian forces, despite everything, are increasing the tempo of their offensive in the zone of the special military operation,” he said, using Moscow’s term for the war.
