Russian airspace becoming unsafe for commercial airlines, Zelenskyy says
2 September 2026
Featured in The Guardian
Russia and Ukraine
Justin Bronk, an aviation analyst at the Royal United Services Institute thinktank, said he believed Ukraine could force “periodic closures of Russian airports on a semi-regular basis” by relying on an element of surprise. It could do so by flying small waves of drones at short notice, though trying to close an airport permanently would be difficult, he said, because a sustained attack would become predictable and easier for air-defence systems to halt.

