Russia has threatened the safety of Ukrainian, American and European officials travelling to and from Kyiv using drones. These attacks have come as Russia’s ground war stumbles. Details emerged this week of its latest setback when an attempt to seize the city of Lyman resulted in the loss of 85 square kilometres (33 square miles) of territory Russia had previously occupied in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
On September 13, Russian drones struck a Ukrainian train locomotive 5km (3 miles) from the border with Poland, endangering European officials travelling to Warsaw after they attended the Yalta European Strategy conference, an annual gathering of global political, business and civil society leaders in Kyiv. Boris Johnson, Britain’s former premier, and European political and security officials were on the train. Ukraine’s railway company, Ukraliznytsia, said the locomotive of the passenger train had been struck.
A Russian drone also struck a petrol station 2km (1.2 miles) from the Polish border, destroying or damaging a number of trucks. Polish premier Donald Tusk said he expects a period of “very intensified actions by Russia”, possibly including an “escalation will also affect our territory”. In another incident on September 8, a Russian drone entered Moldovan airspace as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plane prepared to depart Chisinau, delaying the flight.
Norway’s prime minister said it nearly struck the aircraft, though Moldova has not confirmed the claim. On September 6, US diplomatic envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff flew to Poland before taking a train to Kyiv after Russian strikes disrupted flights to the Ukrainian capital. Russian drones and missiles have also struck four Ukrainian border crossings to Moldova in recent weeks.
Kremlin Ambassador-at-large Rodion Miroshnik said the strikes were justified as part of Russia’s effort to stop Western military aid from reaching Kyiv. Ukraine has turned its ports, border crossings and logistics centres into “military targets”, he wrote on social media, boasting that Kyiv was “reaping the inevitable consequences”. Five people were killed on Wednesday when a drone struck their intercity minibus near Nikopol in the northern Kharkiv region in what Zelenskyy called “another act of brutality”.
Hope for more aid came on Thursday, when both houses of the US Congress passed a bill sponsored by Senators Darline Graham and Richard Blumenthal imposing secondary sanctions on countries buying Russian oil and gas. If implemented, the bill could deprive Russia of export revenues it needs to replenish its budget, one-third of which goes to defence. Ukraine has struck 26 Russian refineries this year.
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