02 September 2026 | 00:11

READING: 4 minutes

“We want to warn every airline: Russian airspace is not safe — it is the space of our drones.” Ukraine is ready to strike. President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his usual end-of-day message, appears to signal a step up in offensive operations. “Are they saying it is not safe to fly in Russia? Those are terrorist statements,” came an immediate response from Vladimir Putin.

“The Ukrainians say they want to negotiate, but if they have said something like that, it is essentially state terrorism. And there can be no negotiations with terrorists,” the Russian president said in response to journalists in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. Russia’s attacks on Kyiv will continue, but according to Putin the aim is not to strike the Ukrainian leadership: “We are not carrying out such attacks because we need certain people to talk to, assuming they want to pursue peace. Talks, at the moment, are frozen.” The war continues: “We will intensify operations; I have ordered strikes on energy infrastructure.”

Zelensky’s message

“Russia launched the first missiles and the first drones that crossed our border from Russian airspace. This escalation cannot and will not remain confined to Ukrainian territory,” Zelensky said, addressing “every airline that uses Russian airspace” and “anyone who still uses Russia’s main airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe. Ukraine does not threaten civil aviation as such, nor does it threaten a single civilian aircraft. There will simply be drones in the skies over Russia in numbers and on a scale that must be taken into account. Although Russian authorities are not adequately informing people about this, Russian airspace will effectively close: the war that Russia started is closing Russia’s skies.”

Zelensky said Ukraine has respected requests from other countries and suspended potentially devastating actions. Now that changes. “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. It is important that this is understood by the ambassadors of the countries represented here in Ukraine, as well as by the ambassadors working in Moscow. Each of them knows exactly what Russia’s war means for our country and our people, and they must convey this information to their capitals. It is also important that airlines currently flying to airports mainly in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and other key destinations in Russia are aware of this,” he reiterated.

“The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our other institutions will provide international organizations with all information about the dangers in Russian airspace. Skies filled with drones are not suitable for civil aviation. Ukraine is a country of peace. And we sincerely respect that our partners want to help end this war,” he said.

Attacks halted at US request; now Moscow back in the crosshairs

“When the Americans asked us to suspend attacks on Moscow and Saint Petersburg on August 25, 26 and 27, we complied: there were no attacks on Russia while attacks on Ukraine continued. When another global power asked us to suspend attacks in the direction of Vladivostok for a specified period, we agreed to ensure that as well. New meetings in Moscow are now being prepared and we will take that into account,” he said, pointing to another phase of negotiations likely linked to the trip of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, envoys of US President Donald Trump.

Ukraine pledges “support for every step toward peace, for every step to prevent Russia from making this war endless. The war must end, and leaders are right to tell Putin that. So, for the sake of diplomacy and negotiations, whenever our partners raise this issue” with requests “we will ensure that Russian skies are cleared of drones for defined periods and along specified routes. Security will return to Russia’s skies when there is real movement toward peace. For now, the skies over Russia are for drones, not for civil aviation,” he concluded.

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