President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Vladimir Putin is preparing to expand Russia’s war in Ukraine by opening a new front against another European country.
Speaking in Kyiv following his meeting with US President Donald Trump at the United Nations in New York, Zelenskyy said Moscow was deliberately testing NATO’s defences through a series of drone incursions and airspace violations.
“Putin will not wait to finish his war in Ukraine. He will open up some other direction. Nobody knows where. He wants that,” the Ukrainian leader said.
In recent days, drones have been sighted over military bases in Denmark and Norway, while Russian fighter jets have violated Estonian airspace. Earlier this month, Ukraine tracked 92 drones flying in formation towards Poland. Most were intercepted, but 19 crossed into Polish territory, where four were shot down.
Zelenskyy suggested that European governments were struggling to respond to this new threat. He confirmed that representatives from several countries would travel to Ukraine to receive training in countering Russian aerial attacks. “We are ready to share our experience,” he said.
The Ukrainian president’s remarks came after what he described as “very nice” talks with Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The US president said he believed Ukraine could recover all the territory lost since 2022 with the backing of NATO and European allies. He also described Russia’s economy as being in serious difficulty and its military as a “paper tiger”.
Zelenskyy said he had briefed Trump on the realities of the battlefield, explaining that Russian advances were often short-lived. “It’s not success. It’s temporary presence,” he said, adding that the US president now had greater “faith” in Ukraine and recognised that Russia had treated him and others with “disrespect”.
He declined to comment on reports that Kyiv had requested Tomahawk cruise missiles from Washington, calling it a “sensitive issue”.
Ukraine has recently carried out a series of long-range drone strikes against Russian oil refineries. Zelenskyy warned that if Moscow attempted to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure again this winter, Russia’s own capital would face retaliatory blackouts.
