Putin will use drones to expand war throughout Europe, says Zelenskyy

told the UN. “Stopping Putin now is cheaper than trying to protect every port and every ship from terrorists. Stopping Russia now is cheaper than wondering who will be forced to create a simple drone with a nuclear warhead.”

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Ten years ago, he said, “war looked different and no one could have imagined that cheap drones could create death zones stretching for dozens of kilometres where nothing moves, no vehicles, no life. People used to imagine that only after a nuclear strike. Now it is drone reality, and without AI yet.”

Referring to the recent wave of Russian disruption across Europe, including a drone incursion into Poland, he said: “Putin was intent on driving the war forward, wider and deeper ... to continue this war by expanding it.”

He said he had warned Europe before about Russia’s intentions “and now Russian drones are flying across Europe”. No one could be immune to the spread of war, he said, adding: “We are living through the most destructive arms race in human history.”

Zelenskyy gave no overall evaluation of the war in Ukraine, nor did he refer directly to Trump’s surprise claim it would be possible for Ukraine to recapture all the lands that it had lost to Russia since 2022, saying simply he had had a good meeting on Tuesday with the US president.