Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has told airlines that Russian airspace is becoming too dangerous to use as his country expands drone operations and strikes deeper inside Russia.

Speaking in a nightly video address on Tuesday, Zelensky warned carriers that still fly through Russian territory, as well as aviation insurers and operators of key Russian airports. “We want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, everyone who still uses key Russian airports: the Russian sky is becoming completely dangerous,” he said.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Zelensky’s remarks amounted to a “declaration of state terrorism”. Putin added that Russia would continue attacks on Ukraine, which have intensified in recent weeks.

Zelensky’s Airspace Warning

Zelensky said Ukraine did not threaten civilian aviation “as such” and that there had been “not a single civilian aircraft” targeted. He said the change in risk for air travellers reflected the scale of drones operating in Russian skies.

“There will simply be drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that has to be taken into account,” Zelensky said. He also directed his message particularly at flights to Russian airports in major cities, including St Petersburg and Moscow.

Drone Attacks Disrupt Flights

Ukraine’s drone strikes have struck energy facilities deep inside Russia, and there have been repeated attacks on depots used by Wildberries and Ozon, two of Russia’s biggest online retailers.

For months, the attacks have disrupted parts of Russia’s commercial airport network, especially in Moscow. At times, all four major Moscow airports have been forced to halt arrivals and departures, and several cancellations were reported on Wednesday.

Zelensky said disruption does not require Ukraine to target airports directly. Under Russia’s air defence plan, known as “Kovyor” (carpet), flights are suspended when a drone is detected in the relevant area.

Aviation risk advisory firm Osprey Flight Solutions said in an alert to clients that most Ukrainian drone and missile strikes were likely to take place within 300km (186 miles) of the border, but that daily attacks deeper inside Russia were expected to continue this year. It added that the frequency of strikes could rise in the short term and that there was a realistic risk of miscalculation or misidentification in areas tied to the conflict.

Putin Rejects Ukraine’s Link To Civil Aviation

Speaking to reporters at the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan, Putin said Ukraine was asking Russia to resume negotiations, but that it was not willing to talk with “terrorists”. He made the remarks as Russia’s strikes on Ukraine continued.

Heavy attacks on Tuesday killed 12 people, and further strikes hit Odesa, Sumy and Kyiv on Wednesday. Russia’s military said it was preparing “massive” strikes on Ukrainian power stations, and the Ukrainian capital and surrounding region have been under attack for seven consecutive days.

Wider Context For Civil Aviation

Some airlines that do not routinely fly over Russia have largely avoided the eastern European region since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Ukraine has also kept its airspace closed to civilian aircraft throughout that period.

Nevertheless, Chinese, Turkish and Gulf state airlines are among those using Russian airspace, citing time and fuel savings on routes between Asia and Europe.

The risks of civil aviation in wartime have been highlighted by past incidents. In 2014, after fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine, a Russian-made missile brought down a passenger plane, killing all 298 people on board. The UN aviation agency later ruled that Russia was responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014, a finding the Kremlin has denied.

In 2024, Putin apologised to Azerbaijan over the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace that killed 38 people. He said the “tragic incident” happened when Russian air defence systems were repelling Ukrainian drones.

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2 September 2026

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Very risky.

But Zelinskyy needs to go very risky to respond to juiced up Russian terrorism.

Aww, what a shame.

Maybe Russia could maybe

stop killing Ukrainian men,

raping Ukrainian women and kidnapping Ukraine children

never to be seen again?

That would be great.

Pay back time for MH 17 ?