Putin accuses Zelenskyy of ‘terrorism’, while Ukraine warns foreign airlines against using Russian airspace.

Russian drone attacks across Ukraine have killed at least one person and wounded more than a dozen others, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin threatened to escalate the conflict.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities reported attacks in the capital, Kyiv, in the southern city of Odesa and in eastern Dnipro, where the body of a man was retrieved from under rubble.

The air war between Russia and Ukraine has intensified as the conflict stretches into its fifth year following Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour. The front line in eastern and southern Ukraine remains largely deadlocked, and US efforts to negotiate a peace settlement have yet to produce a path to peace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy exchanged threats late on Tuesday over what their next steps might be.

Zelenskyy warned foreign airlines that the skies over Russia are not safe for flights due to Ukrainian long-range drone attacks, saying that “Russian airspace will effectively be closing”. He said Ukrainian military pressure aims to compel Russia to accept peace negotiations.

Putin accused Zelenskyy of “state terrorism” and said: “We don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

At a late-night news conference on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan, Putin also addressed reports that the Ukrainian military had used British-made drones to strike targets inside Russia.

Asked whether Russia would strike British military facilities if the UK government continues to provide Ukraine with weaponry, Putin declined to rule it out. With a small smile, he told reporters it was “a military secret”.

China and North Korea, meanwhile, have provided military support for Russia, as has Iran in previous years.

The Russian and Ukrainian leaders’ comments came as European officials weigh their response to the latest in what they say is Moscow’s campaign of continental sabotage and disruption aimed at weakening European support for Ukraine. Germany on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle airport last month using a drone laden with explosives.

Odesa power outage

Russia fired 174 attack drones, about half of them jet-powered drones that are hard to stop and are increasingly being deployed by Moscow, as well as two ballistic missiles and two plane-launched missiles at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

Officials in the southern Ukraine region of Odesa reported that the attack damaged a 24-storey residential building, destroying apartments on several floors and wounding eight people, including a child.

Odesa office buildings and two educational facilities were also damaged, Serhiy Lysak, head of the Odesa city military administration, said. The barrage also caused a power outage that halted electric-powered public transport, the city council said.

A man and a woman were wounded by shrapnel in morning attacks on the Kyiv region, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration.

It was the seventh straight day Kyiv came under attack, although the latest barrage wasn’t as heavy as in previous days. The assault started a fire at a warehouse, officials said. Russian forces have targeted civilian facilities in what Ukrainian officials say is an effort to disrupt daily life and sap public morale.

A fire broke out at an educational facility and a medical practice was also damaged, the Kyiv city military administration said.

Meanwhile in Russia, air defences destroyed 130 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. The drones were shot down over 11 Russian regions, as well as the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black Sea, it said.

Ukrainian drone attacks killed two people in Russia’s Belgorod border region and wounded 16 more, acting governor Aleksand Shuvaev said. Ukrainian forces hit the region 140 times over the course of 24 hours, he said.

Ukraine’s domestically developed long-range drones have repeatedly targeted Russia’s oil sector, hoping to dent the economy and the warehouses of online retailers to make the Russian public feel the effects of war.

“I am Anna. This house in Odesa was bombed,” I said. “Let’s crowdsource for power banks for Ukraine.”

I sent it to a friend in Warsaw who posted it to her Facebook page, where she has 1,400 “friends.” Within 48 hours, my video generated a whopping 955 comments, 950 of them anti-Ukrainian — almost all in Polish and many obscene. I was shocked by the quantity, but sadly not by the tone.

I regularly shuttle between Poland and Ukraine; as a volunteer with the nongovernmental organization Assist Ukraine, I deliver donated cars to Ukrainian servicemen. When I am in Warsaw, I see that attitudes since the start of the war have changed.

Where did Polish solidarity go? In the aftermath of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, Poles opened their country to their neighbors. Nine million Ukrainians came through the border; I was there and remember the spontaneous crowds with sandwiches and thermoses, free rides and accommodation. Back then, 78 percent of Poles supported military aid — and indeed it poured into Ukraine from, and through, Poland.

That was then.

Today a majority of Poles criticize military help to Ukraine and 52 percent no longer want to admit refugees. Most Ukrainians who chose Poland — linguistically, culturally and geographically close to them — as a safe haven are bewildered and some are planning to move to another country.

Resentment plays a part. Ukrainians are seen as competing on the Polish labor market — and Ukrainian women on the dating market as well. Polish farmers resented that Ukraine could export its grain to the European Union tariff-free, and they blocked its trucks on the border. Many Poles seem to believe that Ukrainian refugees are a drain on the budget, even though they are in fact net contributors.

You often hear it said in Warsaw (and Washington too) that Ukrainians are not grateful enough. In my opinion, the whole of Europe should be grateful to Ukrainian fighters for stopping Russians in their tracks. The Poles should be most grateful of all.

Poland also cannot accept that some figures from Ukraine’s nationalist past — Stepan Bandera in particular — remain in its pantheon, their likeness on coffee mugs and T-shirts. Many Poles see them as toxic characters.

The two countries’ painfully entangled past is a source of friction. In 1943, members of the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army, known by its Ukrainian acronym, UPA, massacred Polish civilians. Poland claims there were 100,000 victims of the “Volhynia genocide.” Ukraine disputes this number, refers to the killings as the “Volhynia tragedy” and points out that thousands of Ukrainians died in reprisals. In spite of the ongoing war with Russia, Ukraine allows Polish historians to carry out exhumations on its territory.

Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, never visited Kyiv. When he received his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Warsaw last year, he handed him two volumes on Volyhnia. This is a bit like welcoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz with a coffee-table book on Auschwitz.

Last May, Zelensky bestowed on a Ukrainian special forces unit the name “Heroes of the UPA.” The UPA fought the Soviets in and after World War II, and remain a potent symbol for Ukrainians. Within days, a furious Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of Poland’s highest state honor. The famous Polish dissident Adam Michnik declared Nawrocki’s gesture a “shame and disgrace.” Michnik was almost alone in his protest. Most Polish politicians supported Nawocki’s decision or remained silent. A serving Polish minister now says Ukraine will not be admitted to European Union if it “comes with Bandera on the banner,” and the Polish opposition’s candidate for prime minister called for all military aid to be suspended.

Social media is perhaps the ultimate exacerbator of discord. Poland’s deputy digital minister said recently that Russian ​disinformation exploded across social and official Russian media in the wake of the presidential spat. This poison was then amplified on Polish networks. Press Club Poland, which monitors perceptions of the Ukrainian community on social media, saw the proportion of negative posts rise from 15 percent in May to 22 percent in June, before spiking to 49 percent in July. Another prominent think tank reports that Polish-language anti-Ukrainian content increased by more than 250 percent on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube since May. This is part of what must have come my way in those 950 comments.

Some analysts suggest that much of this filth may well be bot-generated, designed to give the impression that the intensity of the animosity is greater than it is. But when prominent figures and organizations on the Polish far-right are regularly sharing it with their followers, the line between a foreign influence campaign and domestic politics becomes blurred.

On Aug. 15, Prime Minister Donald Tusk singled out the right-wing opposition politicians for turning voters against Ukraine, and made the case for Poland helping its neighbor. “Polish-Ukrainian relations can be debated, but no one can doubt that supporting Ukraine in the war with Russia is for our security,” he said. “We do it for ourselves, for Poles, and for no one else.”

Many of my worried Polish friends felt a bit better hearing his words. Perhaps Tusk’s appeal to self-interest can reach those who have been poisoned. But there is no easy recipe for how to repair bilateral relations and save a crucial alliance against a dangerous common enemy.

I will soon take my 53rd trip to Ukraine, driving a donated car from Helsinki to Kharkiv. And I continue to raise funds to buy power banks and tourniquets. It’s the least I can do to help. If the Ukrainians prevail in their struggle, their monumental sacrifice will have kept my country safe.

BRUSSELS/BERLIN, Sept 2 (Reuters) - European ​Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Wednesday to increase pressure on Russia, including with new sanctions, after an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport in ‌Germany that she said showed Moscow's growing "recklessness".

Airport workers last month found a drone laden with explosives and a detonator at the airport, an important civilian freight and NATO logistics hub in eastern Germany that is also a base for several giant Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo planes.

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Germany blamed Moscow for the attack, characterising it as part of hybrid warfare meant to intimidate and cause divisions in countries that have rallied around Ukraine since Russia's ​2022 invasion.

Russia denies involvement. It says it will respond to what its foreign ministry spokesperson called "anti-Russian action", and summoned Germany's top diplomat in Moscow.

"Europe and NATO will not just maintain our ​pressure on Russia; we will increase it, and we will not stop - not until Russia stops bombing and killing innocent children, men and ⁠women in Ukraine," von der Leyen said in Brussels after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

"Europeans are faced with the hard truth that this is the new normal. ​We have to step up, and that means being ready to respond to Russia's recklessness faster and better."

The full scope of new sanctions was not immediately clear.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas ​said the bloc was working on sanctions related to Russia's military complex, and France's foreign minister called for action against Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of ships accused of circumventing energy sanctions.

Rutte said more drones and missiles had crossed into NATO airspace on Europe's eastern flank, and there was an increase in malign activities including the Leipzig attack.

"If Russia thinks we will be divided by the threat, or if they think we will ​be deterred from supporting Ukraine, they are mistaken," he said.

The EU and several EU member states summoned Russian embassy officials. Germany said it would close Russia's consulate general in Bonn ​and terminate its agreement with the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin.

TWO SUSPECTS IDENTIFIED, MEDIA OUTLETS SAY

Details of two Leipzig attack suspects were reported by German media outlets Sueddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR.

A police officer in protective clothing works at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Schkeuditz, Germany, August 5, 2026, after the police said explosives experts examined a drone near a runway, and after a DHL cargo aircraft hit an unknown object as it was climbing away from the airport overnight, prompting an unscheduled landing in... Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more

Investigators have identified ‌the logistics ⁠coordinator and instructor behind the attack, the outlets reported.

The man, Russian-born but holding a Latvian passport, was believed to have ties to Russian intelligence, they said. He is thought to have flown into Berlin in late July and driven a rental car towards Leipzig. Two days before the failed drone attack, the suspect left Germany by plane, they reported.

The second suspect was a man from Belarus who also holds a Russian passport and is thought to have entered the country on an Italian tourist visa obtained in Minsk, the outlets said.

Germany's Public Prosecutor General ​did not immediately respond to a request for ​comment. Russia also did not immediately comment ⁠further on the case.

GERMANY PROBES SABOTAGE CASES

As the EU prepared its response, Germany was grappling with two new suspected sabotage cases within 24 hours.

In the first, authorities were investigating vandalism at a substation in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) that prompted lignite power plant units with 4,200 megawatts (MW) ​in combined capacity to go off the grid.

In the other, also on Tuesday, devices carrying conductive material damaged power lines at one of ​the most critical high-voltage ⁠nodes in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

NRW's interior minister said the work of foreign powers or left-wing extremists could not be ruled out.

Brandenburg's interior minister, Jan Redmann, said there appeared to be parallels between the attacks but that investigations were at an early stage.

The incidents come at a sensitive time as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which calls for closer ties to Moscow, is topping polls before ⁠a state election ​this weekend.

Lawmaker Alexander Throm, an interior policy expert from Germany's ruling conservatives, said it was striking that such ​incidents were occurring before elections.

"The clear goal is to unsettle the public. Of course, that is a goal shared not only by Russia but also by others, such as left-wing extremists," Throm told Reuters.

Additional reporting by Bart H. ​Meijer, Padraic Halpin, Conor Humphries, John Irish, Dominique Vidalon, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Lili Bayer, Christoph Steitz, Matthias Inverardi and Miranda Murray; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Timothy Heritage

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In recent days, Trump administration officials have seemed to make an effort to reengage with Moscow. CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow to meet with counterparts in Russian intelligence. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent welcomed Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov at a Group of 20 finance ministers’ meeting in North Carolina.

Bessent used the gathering in part to seek support for a new U.S. pressure campaign against Iran called “Operation Economic Outcast” — the latest effort by the Trump administration to force the Iranians to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway vital to oil shipments.

But at the meeting in Bishkek, a gathering of leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that included Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Putin pledged continued support for Tehran. At the news conference Wednesday, he also vowed that Russia would keep pummeling Ukraine and dismissed a warning by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia’s skies are no longer safe for aviation because of Ukrainian drones.

“If this has been voiced, it amounts to nothing less than a call for state terrorism,” Putin told reporters. “And I would point out that they are asking us to resume negotiations and requesting face-to-face meetings. One does not negotiate with terrorists.”

In response to a question about Ratcliffe’s visit, Putin said contacts between intelligence services are routine and continued “even during the most difficult times of the Cold War, and all the more so now.”

It was the first time Putin had publicly addressed Ratcliffe’s appearance in Moscow, the first known visit to Russia by a CIA director since late 2021, shortly before Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The visit came after new U.S. intelligence indicated the Kremlin views Washington as weakened by the Iran war, potentially seeing an opening to escalate provocations against U.S. interests or allies.

Putin said that peace talks on Ukraine are “frozen to a certain extent” but that Moscow would welcome “someone who could bring some positivity to the process.”

“That said, we are perfectly comfortable working with people we know well and whom we generally trust — individuals close to President Trump,” Putin continued. “In my view, they are sincere people who strive to imbue our work with concrete substance.”

He added: “President Trump trusts them, which is crucial. … That is why Mr. Kushner and Mr. Witkoff are always welcome guests here, and we enjoy working with them.”

The comments followed a familiar pattern. In response to Washington’s on-again, off-again attempts to draw Moscow back to the negotiating table, Putin showed little appetite to move away from his maximalist goals in Ukraine or his military campaign to achieve them.

Putin lashed out at Ukraine’s threats to devastate the Russian economy, suggesting that Kyiv has little interest in negotiations.

“We need some people to talk to — provided they realize they want to resolve issues peacefully — rather than simply ‘destroying’ our economy ‘in 40 days,’ ‘bringing Russia to its knees,’ or dealing us ‘yet another strategic blow,’” he said.

Putin’s appearances after major international events have become one of the few remaining venues for media access to the Russian president, albeit one that is tightly staged.

At the news conference, Putin also dismissed rumors that Russia would undertake a new general military mobilization. Rumors of a mass conscription, perhaps after parliamentary elections in Russia this fall, have swirled against the backdrop of an intensifying war in Ukraine. Putin called the speculation nonsense.

On Tuesday, hours before Putin spoke, Germany formally blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport early last month, where a device packed with military-grade explosives was found next to a Ukrainian cargo plane. The airport is also used by European and NATO military aircraft.

In retaliation, Germany moved to shut down a Russian Consulate in Bonn and the Russia House in Berlin. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the incident, saying Germany provided no evidence and accusing Berlin of “proceeding down a path of further escalation.”

Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who is more recently known for provocative statements on social media, threatened Germany with a “direct strike” on its military production facilities over the Leipzig accusations.

Germany’s leaders, Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chair of Russia’s security council, wrote, “deserve a direct strike on all German military equipment production facilities ... and quite possibly on several other locations in Berlin as well.”

Last week, Russia warned it could strike British military targets inside and outside Ukraine in response to Kyiv’s use of long-range British Storm Shadow cruise missiles against targets inside Russia.

Maria Zakharova, the spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said Britain was “one step away” from becoming legally complicit in what she called “terrorism” against Russian civilians, warning of “inevitable catastrophic consequences” unless London changes course.

Asked in Bishkek whether Russia was seriously considering strikes on British military facilities, Putin said it was “a military secret.”

Zelensky issued his warnings during his nightly address on Tuesday, saying that “the safe days in Russia’s skies are over.”

“Today, we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer and everyone who still uses Russia’s key airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe,” he said.

Russian authorities, he added, “are not properly informing people about this” — but Russian airspace, in effect, is closing, “the war started by Russia is closing its skies.”

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“They do not want to go there because it means death,” a Ukrainian commander said.