Enemy skies not safe, Zelensky warns airlines
‘There will simply be drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that has to be taken into account.’
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‘There will simply be drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that has to be taken into account.’
BERLIN (AFP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Tuesday that his country’s drones would 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.
“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.
The hardening stances came after fresh Russian missile and drone strikes killed at least 12 people in Kyiv and the surrounding region.
“We in Ukraine do not want innocent lives to be lost. That is why we are warning our partners: the safe days in Russia’s skies are over,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky said in his nightly address that Ukraine would clear its drones from Russian skies when its partners requested it, “for the sake of diplomacy, for the sake of negotiations... for specific periods of time and in specific destinations.”
Barrage kills 12
Russia launched a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv and its surrounding region overnight, killing at least 12 people and wounding 21, Ukraine said Tuesday, hitting the capital as children were set to return to school after the summer.
Zelensky denounced “Russian terror” and said an Indian citizen was among the dead, calling on allies to boost Ukraine’s air defense this autumn.
Authorities said eight of the victims were killed within Kyiv and that most of them were railway workers who died after a ballistic missile hit a rail depot.
Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, chief executive of Ukrainian Railways, said six of the company’s employees were killed.
He said the attack caused “extensive destruction,” including the complete devastation of a workshop, while fires continued to burn at some sites.
