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Russian airspace is becoming increasingly dangerous for civilian aviation because of the mass presence of drones, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, urging international airlines and insurers to take the risks into account.
Zelenskyy addressed airlines using Russian airspace, as well as insurers working with major Russian airports, warning that “Russian skies are becoming completely unsafe.”
“Ukraine does not threaten civil aviation as such — not a single civilian aircraft. But there will be so many drones in the skies over Russia that this must be taken into account,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that although Russian authorities are not properly informing the public and aviation industry about the risks, Russia’s airspace is effectively becoming restricted because of the war Moscow launched against Ukraine.
“Civilian aircraft have no place among drones”
Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine does not want innocent people to be killed and urged foreign governments, airlines and insurers to recognize that there are increasingly few safe periods in Russian airspace.
He called on diplomats representing foreign countries in Ukraine and Russia to relay the information to their governments.
The president said Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and other relevant institutions would provide international organizations with detailed information about the risks associated with Russian airspace.
“Civilian aviation has no place among drones,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that Ukraine had previously respected requests from its international partners to refrain from strikes against Russia during periods of diplomatic pauses.
“Safety will return to Russia’s skies when genuine movement toward peace begins. Russia’s skies are currently for drones, not for civil aviation, as long as the war continues,” Zelenskyy said.
Earlier plans to target Moscow airports
Media reports previously said that Ukrainian officials had proposed targeting Moscow’s airports and surrounding areas with large numbers of autonomous drones.
The reported plan, which was later suspended, envisaged launching up to 1,000 drones per day. The drones were reportedly designed to identify and strike targets autonomously without direct operator control.
