Zelenskyy Warns Russia's Airspace 'Becoming Completely Dangerous'
RFE
02 Sep 2026
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned airlines using Russian airspace about the threat posed by Ukrainian drones, saying the skies above Russia are no longer safe amid Moscow's continued escalation.
Today, 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, Zelenskyy said in his daily eveningvideo addresson September 1.
Drone-infested skies are no place for civilian aviation, he said, providing no additional details on the scale of drone activity that should be expected in Russian airspace or when the threat would intensify.
Zelenskyy's comment came as Kyiv has stepped up long-range strikes inside Russia, targeting military sites, oil and gas facilities, and retail legistics centers in an effort to push the Kremlin toward peace negotiations.
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The Ukrainian president stressed that Kyiv was not threatening any civilian aircraft, but said there will simply be drones in Russias skies on a scale that has to be taken into account.
Asked about Zelenskyy's claim at a news conference in Kyrgyzstan, Russian President Vladimir PutinsaidMoscow would respond in case of any incidents, adding that such statements amount to state terrorism.
Commercial flights do not operate in or cross Ukraine during the full-scale war that Putin launched against Russia's neighbor in February 2022.
In July 2014, early in the war pitting Kyiv's forces against Russian and Russia-backed forces in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, a Russian missile shot down a Malaysia Airlines jet flying from Amrsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 passnegrs and crew aboard.
Earlier on September 1, Russian forces pounded regions across Ukraine as children across the country headed to school for their first day of classes.
One of the strikes left at least four people dead and 13 others injured in the city of Boryspil in the Kyiv region, when a Russian missile struck near a residential building.
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There is nothing left, Natalya, a resident of Boryspil in the Kyiv region, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service as she surveyed what remained of her sisters apartment in a building damaged by a Russian missile strike following a deadly attack on September 1.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Serhiy Nuzhnenko
Russian air strikes pounded the Kyiv region, killing and injuring local residents as children across Ukraine headed to school for their first day of classes on September 1.
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The strike took the lives of at least four people and injured at least 13 others, including Natalya's sister, her sister's husband, and their child.
"My sisters husband is being operated on right now," she said standing near the crater left from the strike. "[My sister's] child was admitted to intensive care."
A total of 48 people were evacuated from the building following the attack.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Serhiy Nuzhnenko
Russian air strikes pounded the Kyiv region, killing and injuring local residents as children across Ukraine headed to school for their first day of classes on September 1.
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Natalya said she could barely recognize her sister's place, adding that the wall separating it from the neighboring apartment was gone.
"There wasnt even any wallpaper left. You cant even tell where you are anymore," she said. "The ceiling, the walls -- everything has been blown out."
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Serhiy Nuzhnenko
Russian air strikes pounded the Kyiv region, killing and injuring local residents as children across Ukraine headed to school for their first day of classes on September 1.
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As RFE/RL captured images of the aftermath in Boryspil, the personal belongings of local residents were scattered across the scene, including a childs toy.
Following the attack, Kyiv Regional Governor Tymur Tkachenko said Russian forces were again purposely striking" civilian sites and residential buildings.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Serhiy Nuzhnenko
Russian air strikes pounded the Kyiv region, killing and injuring local residents as children across Ukraine headed to school for their first day of classes on September 1.
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Some local residents stare at what had been a familiar part of their neighborhood before the strike.
Tkachenko added that cars, private houses, and a car-repair shop were also damaged in the Russian attack on Boryspil.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Serhiy Nuzhnenko
Russian air strikes pounded the Kyiv region, killing and injuring local residents as children across Ukraine headed to school for their first day of classes on September 1.
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Other people, like Natalya, were seen trying salvage anything they could from the badly damaged five-story building.
I was climbing around there, trying to find at least something -- some documents, some basic things that might have survived, she said.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Serhiy Nuzhnenko
Russian air strikes pounded the Kyiv region, killing and injuring local residents as children across Ukraine headed to school for their first day of classes on September 1.
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In another attack, a Russian drone directly hit a high-rise residential building in the city of Kyiv.
The incidents came as thousands of Ukrainian children were preparing to start their first day of classes in the new school year on September 1.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Serhiy Nuzhnenko
Russian air strikes pounded the Kyiv region, killing and injuring local residents as children across Ukraine headed to school for their first day of classes on September 1.
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This is nothing but Russian terror against civilians, Zelenskyy said of the latest Russian attacks. He added that this escalation cannot and will not remain confined to Ukrainian territory.
It is entirely natural and just that its consequences will also extend to Russia -- including Russian airspace, which already is, and will increasingly become, a space for our drones and our missiles that are actively and justly responding to Russias war.
Zelenskyy Warns Russia's Airspace 'Becoming Completely Dangerous'
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