Zelenskyy warns ‘safe days in Russian skies are over’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday (September 1, 2026) warned airways, insurance coverage corporations and passengers that Russian airspace can be “utterly unsafe” and stuffed with Ukrainian drones all through the struggle.

“In the present day, we need to warn each airline that makes use of Russian airspace, each insurer, and everybody who nonetheless makes use of Russia’s key airports: Russian airspace is changing into utterly unsafe,” he mentioned in his nightly tackle.

“Ukraine doesn’t threaten civilian aviation as such — not a single civilian plane. There’ll merely be drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that needs to be taken into consideration,” he mentioned.

Greater than 4 years after the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, each Moscow and Kyiv have intensified their lethal strikes.

At the least 12 individuals have been killed on Tuesday (September 1, 2026) in Kyiv and the encompassing area throughout contemporary large in a single day Russian strikes.

Air site visitors at Russian airports can be frequently disrupted by the method of Ukrainian drones, the variety of which has elevated in latest months.

“We in Ukraine don’t need harmless lives to be misplaced. That’s the reason we’re warning our companions: the secure days in Russia’s skies are over,” Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned.

“Drone-infested skies are not any place for civilian aviation,” he added. “The sky over Russia is presently for drones… so long as the struggle continues.”

He mentioned Ukraine would, nonetheless, clear its drones from Russian skies when its companions requested it, “for the sake of diplomacy, for the sake of negotiations… for particular durations of time and in particular locations”.

Diplomatic efforts beneath U.S. mediation to finish the battle have stalled because the outbreak of struggle within the West Asia in February.