In his strategy to try to damage Russia’s economy to reduce resources for its war machine, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has raised the tone of his threats by stating that Russian airspace will no longer be “safe” and will be filled with Ukrainian attack drones. The Kremlin has responded by accusing Zelensky of “state terrorism.”
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Zelensky threatened on Tuesday afternoon in statements to airlines and passengers using Russian airspace, because he assured that as long as the war lasts it will be full of Ukrainian drones and the Russian sky will be “de facto closed.” The message, recorded in an evening video partially published on his Telegram channel, was also directed at insurance companies.
Ukrainian drone attacks already regularly cause interruptions to air traffic at departures and arrivals at major Russian airports, as Moscow applies a plan called Kovior (carpet, in Russian) to ensure civil aviation safety, which forces planes in the indicated area to land immediately.
“The enemy will feel the Russian response,” Putin assures
But if the words of the Ukrainian leader are fulfilled, the war between the two Slavic countries, which has lasted more than four and a half years, could enter a new level in the scale of the conflict’s severity.
“Today we want to warn all airlines that use Russian airspace, every insurer, and everyone who still uses Russia’s main airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe,” declared the Ukrainian president.
He then specified: “Ukraine is not threatening civil aviation itself, not even a single civil plane. There will simply be drones in Russian skies on such a scale that it must be taken into account.”
Zelensky’s words echoed on the Russian side shortly after. Ukraine’s threats to block Russian skies are a “declaration of state terrorism,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin during a press conference after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit held in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan).
“We will find ways to respond to this, we will find tools,” assured the Kremlin chief. And he assured that Russia’s responses to Ukrainian attacks will do more damage to Ukrainians. “Wherever they attack on the territory of the Russian Federation, we will respond like a mirror, but a bit more powerfully. The enemy will feel it. I hope they already are feeling it. And they will feel it in the future on an increasing scale,” he warned.
Zelensky has said that Ukrainian attacks are a “just” response to Russia’s desire to “prolong the war”
Then, Putin recalled that Ukraine has offered to hold negotiations. The Russian leader was blunt: “But there are no negotiations with terrorists.”
Kyiv has intensified its drone attacks in recent months in regions inside Russia, as well as in Ukrainian provinces occupied by Moscow. Its main targets have been warehouses and logistics centers of e-commerce companies, such as Wildberries and Ozon, and oil and port facilities.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine considers these attacks a “just” response to Russia’s “desire to prolong the war” and to Moscow’s attacks that “terrorize the civilian population.”
Putin has acknowledged that the Ukrainian offensive is causing damage to Russia. “The adversary has begun attacking our civil infrastructure, including refineries. Have they caused damage? Yes. And why? Among other reasons, mainly because they were not protected,” Putin declared in Bishkek. And he assured that Russia will take new measures to strengthen the protection of “critical infrastructure.”
Medvedev warns Western leaders, whom he calls “sponsors of terrorism”
Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and now deputy head of the Russian Security Council, went a step further than Putin and personally warned Western leaders, allies of Ukraine.
On his Telegram channel this Wednesday he wrote that Moscow will target Kyiv’s “sponsors of terrorism” if Ukrainian authorities carry out their threat to make Russian airspace “completely unsafe.”
“All terrorism has sponsors. In this case, they are the heads of state of Western countries, mainly European. And these usually travel to Kyiv by train,” Medvedev specified.
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