‘Russian airspace will be effectively closing’: Zelenskyy warns airlines as Ukraine claims to step up drone strikes

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned airlines, insurers and other operators using Russian airspace that the skies over Russia are becoming increasingly “unsafe”, saying Ukraine will continue striking Russian military targets in response to Moscow’s strikes on Ukraine.

According to the official website of the Ukrainian President, in an address on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said Russia had changed the tactics of its assaults on Ukraine and intensified missile and drone strikes since August, targeting cities, infrastructure and energy facilities.

“Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe,” Zelenskyy said, warning that there would be “drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that has to be taken into account”. “Russian airspace will effectively be closing — the war started by Russia is closing its skies,” he said.

Ukraine is a country of peace. And we truly respect the fact that our partners want to help bring this war to an end. We support every such effort. When the Americans asked us to pause strikes on Moscow and St. Petersburg on August 25, 26, and 27, we observed that pause. There… pic.twitter.com/wck56fwMUR

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 1, 2026

Zelenskyy said Ukraine was exercising its right to self-defence by striking Russian military targets and parts of the Russian economy supporting the war effort. “This is our defense,” he said, while stressing that Kyiv was not seeking to target civilian aviation. “Ukraine does not threaten civilian aviation as such — not a single civilian aircraft,” Zelenskyy said.

He urged airlines currently flying to major Russian destinations, particularly Moscow and St Petersburg, to take the warning seriously. “Drone-infested skies are no place for civilian aviation,” he said, adding that Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry would provide international organisations with information about the “dangers” in Russian airspace.

Zelenskyy also pointed to temporary pauses in Ukrainian strikes that Kyiv had agreed to following requests from the United States and another “global power”, saying Ukraine remained committed to diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war.

“When the Americans asked us to pause strikes on Moscow and St. Petersburg on August 25, 26, and 27, we observed that pause,” he said. “We always support every step toward peace — every step to prevent Russia from making this war endless,” Zelenskyy added.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticised Zelenskyy’s warning on the safety of civilian aviation, calling it “state terrorism”, according to The New York Times. Putin also rejected Zelenskyy’s calls for negotiations, saying, “Negotiations are not conducted with terrorists.”

Putin made the remarks in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, after attending a meeting of the 10-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), The New York Times reported.

The Russian President also said that Russia’s military had been ordered to carry out mass strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. According to The New York Times, Putin said the strikes were jeopardising Ukraine’s agricultural exports and could put pressure on its economy.

“I’m not saying we’ll collapse the economy there, but it’s a serious challenge for them,” Putin said, according to The New York Times.

Putin also spoke about diplomatic contacts over the Ukraine war, expressing confidence in working with US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “We are completely comfortable working with people we know well and generally trust,” Putin said, according to The New York Times, referring to the two envoys as people close to US President Donald Trump.

Asked about a trip by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Putin acknowledged contacts between intelligence chiefs, while saying negotiations were “currently frozen, to a certain extent,” the newspaper reported.

Zelenskyy, towards the end of his address, said that “The war needs to end, and leaders are right to tell Putin this”. (ANI)