Russia has used drones to threaten the safety of Ukrainian, American and European officials travelling to and from Kyiv, as its ground campaign in eastern Ukraine faces fresh setbacks.
Details emerged this week of one of Russia's latest battlefield reverses. An attempt to seize the city of Lyman resulted in the loss of 85 square kilometres of territory Russia had previously occupied in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
On September 13, Russian drones struck a Ukrainian train locomotive five kilometres from the border with Poland. The attack endangered European officials travelling to Warsaw after attending the Yalta European Strategy conference, an annual gathering of global political, business and civil society leaders held in Kyiv. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other European political and security officials were on board.
Ukraine's railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, confirmed the locomotive of the passenger train had been struck. A separate Russian drone struck a petrol station two kilometres from the Polish border, destroying or damaging a number of trucks.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he expects a period of "very intensified actions by Russia", possibly including an escalation that would "also affect our territory."
"This is Putin's terror 'knocking' directly on the doors of the EU and NATO," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on social media.
In a separate 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 the drone 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 had turned its ports, border crossings and logistics centres into "military targets", he wrote on social media, adding that Kyiv was "reaping the inevitable consequences."
Five people were killed when a drone struck an intercity minibus near Nikopol in the Kharkiv region. Zelenskyy described the attack as "another act of brutality." Three more people were killed in a subsequent strike on Saturday.
"Just this week, Russia has launched approximately 2,100 drones at Ukraine," along with 78 missiles, Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
On Thursday, both houses of the US Congress passed a bill sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal imposing secondary sanctions on countries buying Russian oil and gas. If implemented, the legislation could deprive Russia of export revenues that fund its budget, roughly one-third of which is allocated to defence.
Ukraine has struck 26 Russian oil refineries this year. In the past week alone it struck eight, targeting desalination and vacuum distillation units that take months to repair. Multiple reports estimate that Ukraine has reduced Russia's actual refining capacity by at least 30 percent.
Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina recently acknowledged that summer inflation was "primarily driven by the situation in the fuel market." "We continue to assess inflationary risks as predominant and believe they have increased," she said.
Ukraine has proposed a ceasefire on strikes to energy infrastructure since 2025, but Russia has signalled it is prepared to engage in talks only on its own terms.
