A 30-year-old man from Uttarakhand who traveled to Russia for university studies has allegedly been forced into the Russian army and deployed to Ukraine, with his family losing contact since early September, according to a Times of India report.
Rakesh Kumar left his village of Kushmoth in Udham Singh Nagar district on 7 August after securing admission to St. Petersburg University on a study visa. Within weeks, his situation had deteriorated dramatically, his family says.
“The last time they had a direct conversation was on 30 August, when Rakesh informed them that he had been forcibly drafted into the Russian army and would soon be deployed to the war zone in Ukraine,” the Times of India reported. After that call, his phone became unreachable.
The family later received a photograph showing Kumar in Russian military uniform, which “only heightened their fears and confirmed their worst suspicions,” according to the report.
Kumar managed one final call from an unfamiliar Russian number, telling his family that authorities had seized his passport and personal documents, deleted his official emails, and forced him through military training in the Donbas region before battlefield deployment.
“We do not even know if he is alive. We just want the governmentt to bring him back home safely,” his elder brother Deepu Maurya told the newspaper.
The family wrote to India’s Ministry of External Affairs on 5 September and has contacted the Indian embassy in Moscow, elected representatives, and local officials seeking help.
The Times of India reports this marks at least the 21st such case in recent months, with most previous victims coming from Punjab and Haryana. These individuals “claimed they were tricked into going to Russia on the pretext of education or employment, only to be coerced into joining Russian military,” according to the report.
Kumar’s case follows the same pattern: arrival for legitimate purposes, rapid conscription, confiscation of documents, and deployment to active combat zones.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is leveraging arms control proposals to pressure the Trump administration into negotiations aimed at securing concessions on Ukraine, according to a new assessment from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Putin claimed that US implementation of his New START initiative, combined with “the entire range of efforts to normalize bilateral relations,” could create an atmosphere “conducive to substantive strategic dialogue” with the United States, ISW reported. The institute forecasted in August 2025 that Russia would pursue this strategy of dangling bilateral arms control talks to advance its objectives in Ukraine.
ISW assesses that the Kremlin is using the prospect of strategic negotiations to “secure Russia’s desired demands in Ukraine and deflect from Russia’s responsibility for the lack of progress in Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations.” The Russian government has manufactured escalatory moves in recent months, including withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in August 2025, to coerce the Trump administration into arms control discussions.
This marks a continuation of Putin’s previous tactics linking arms control to Ukraine policy. In February 2023, Putin suspended Russia’s participation in New START in direct response to Western military aid to Ukraine. Putin’s 22 September statements represent an attempt to position himself as Trump’s equal and present Russia as a global power comparable to the United States, according to ISW.
The institute reported that Putin has consistently worked to posture Russia as inheriting the Soviet Union’s superpower status since Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. These efforts serve to reinforce what ISW characterizes as the Kremlin’s “false narrative that a Russian victory in Ukraine is inevitable,” pressuring Ukraine and Western allies to accept Russia’s maximalist demands rather than face escalating aggression.
A security guard at a local kindergarten who coordinated Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia Oblast has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, the Security Service of Ukraine reported on 22 September.
The investigation established that the perpetrator coordinated rocket-bomb, drone and artillery strikes by Russian forces on front-line settlements in the region, according to the SBU.
According to the investigation, the hostile tasks were carried out by a recruited security guard of a local kindergarten. To involve the man in cooperation, Russian military intelligence used his acquaintance — a choir member in a UOC (MP) church who fled to the temporarily captured part of the region and joined the Russian Federation’s agent network.
“It was through her that the traitor maintained contact with his handler, with whom he coordinated his reconnaissance and sabotage activities,” the SBU reported.
The investigation found that the agent transmitted to Russians the locations of civilian buildings and critical infrastructure facilities in the region. The investigation established that following his guidance, Russians shelled residential buildings in Stepnohirsk settlement at the end of 2023. As a result of the enemy attack, a 43-year-old civilian died and many private homes were completely destroyed.
SBU counterintelligence detained the traitor in January 2024. During searches, they seized a smartphone with an anonymous chat in a messenger through which he contacted the GRU RF “liaison.”
SBU counterintelligence detained earlier two Russian agents in Kyiv Oblast who were transferring Ukrainian SIM cards for drones to Russia on FSB orders.
Russia launched an overnight air attack on Ukraine early on 23 September, using guided bombs, ballistic missiles, and more than 100 explosive drones. The Russian strikes killed a man in Zaporizhzhia when a bomb hit his home. The attacks hit six Ukrainian oblasts and caused fires and infrastructure damage.
The attack is part of Russia’s nightly campaign targeting civilians and non-military infrastructure every day.
Zaporizhzhia: man killed as bombs hit residential and industrial areas
According to the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, Russian forces dropped six high-explosive aerial bombs on Zaporizhzhia in the early hours of 23 September.
One bomb hit a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, killing a 49-year-old man. His body was pulled from under the rubble by emergency services. The blast wave damaged nearby buildings. A fire broke out at the site, according to the report.
The Zaporizhzhia Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported that the bombs also struck the premises of two businesses and additional civilian areas. The Environmental Inspectorate of the Southern District reported that more than 500 square meters of land were contaminated with construction debris and explosive remnants.
The prosecutors launched a criminal case under Article 438, Part 2 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code — the deliberate killing of civilians during armed conflict.
Poltava Oblast: fire at industrial site after drone strike
In Poltava Oblast, Russian drones struck a facility in Poltava district, causing a fire. According to the head of the oblast military administration, Volodymyr Kohut, the fire was extinguished quickly by emergency units. No injuries were reported.
In Myrhorod Raion, debris from an intercepted drone landed in an open area. No damage or injuries occurred there.
Kirovohrad Oblast: infrastructure fire caused by drone attack
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that a Russian drone attack in Kirovohrad Oblast caused a fire at an infrastructure site. The fire broke out overnight and was localized by rescue workers. Twenty-eight emergency personnel and six vehicles were deployed. No casualties were reported.
Mykolaiv: explosion heard during night attack
Suspilne reported hearing a loud explosion in Mykolaiv during the overnight attack. No further details about the impact or damage were provided.
Air Force: 103 drones shot down, 12 reached targets
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia attacked Ukraine overnight starting from 21:00 on 22 September using 115 drones and three Iskander-M or KN-23 ballistic missiles. The drones included Shahed long-range kamikaze drones, Gerbera decoy drones, and others launched from Russian and occupied territory. Ukrainian air defenses reportedly shot down or suppressed 103 of them.
Drones and missiles impacted six confirmed locations, with drone debris falling in eight more.
More Russian long-range drones were still in the air at the time of the Air Force’s reporting.
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi conducted a phone conversation with Romanian Armed Forces Defense Staff Chief General Gheorghiță Vlad, focusing on coordinated responses to Russian aerial threats crossing the Ukrainian-Romanian border.
The Ukrainian military leader briefed his Romanian counterpart on “the current situation in combat areas and key needs of Ukraine’s Armed Forces,” according to Syrskyi’s Telegram announcement.
The commanders addressed “issues of mutual interest, particularly regarding joint counteraction to threats related to the crossing of the Ukrainian-Romanian border by air attack means of the aggressor country,” according to the statement.
Syrskyi expressed gratitude for Romania’s military assistance to Ukrainian forces. “I thanked General Gheorghiță Vlad on behalf of Romania’s leadership and the entire Romanian people for steadfast political support of Ukraine and military aid to our state, long-term cooperation in the interests of Ukraine’s defense and protection of democracy in Europe and the world,” the commander said.
The conversation follows recent high-level defense coordination between the two nations. Ukrainian Defense Minister Denis Shmygal met with Romanian Deputy Prime Minister and National Defense Minister Liviu-Ionuț Moșteanu in Kyiv, where officials agreed to strengthen coordination between their air forces.
Romania demonstrated this coordination in August when it scrambled F-16 fighters in response to Russian attacks on southern Ukrainian regions, according to the report.
The discussion comes amid broader regional security concerns. Polish and Ukrainian General Staff chiefs recently established information-sharing protocols for air threats after Russian drones violated Polish airspace on 10 September, Apostrophe reports.
As a result of the Russian attack on the evening of September 22, nine residential buildings and an educational institution were damaged in the Kyivskyi district of Odesa.
Driving past the Kherson Oblast Sign without a drone detector is too dangerous—Russian drone attacks have made the M-14 highway a killing ground for civilians. So I hop off the minivan and wait for a special ride.
The M-14 Kherson-Mykolaiv highway has been under non-stop Russian drone attacks for the last two months, until it was temporarily closed on 27 August 2025.
A video report from M-14 by Zarina Zabrisky.
Russian drones force closure of key Ukraine highway
The windows of the gas station on the side of the road are covered with plywood, a signature style of Kherson, the city of “wooden windows.” The glass has long been shattered due to Russian drone attacks.
The Russians did not take Ukraine’s 2022 liberation of the city of Kherson and the west bank of the Dnipro lightly. They took revenge by relentlessly pummeling civilian homes, shops, and distribution points with artillery from across the river.
But artillery can reach only so far. As the Russo-Ukrainian war became increasingly dominated by drones, the Russians found ways to make their terror more effective—through a “drone safari” on civilians.
With all the recent innovations and tricks, first-person view (FPV) drones can fly almost 30 km inland, and many new types are quickly added.
A map of the Kherson-Mykolaiv M-14 highway under Russian drone attack
My eyes are tearing up as I see my friend’s car zooming towards me at a Hollywood thriller speed. The air is filled with soot and dust. Fires are blazing in the bright-yellow, dry fields on both sides of the highway. Black smoke covers the sky over a tractor crawling along the smoldering, burnt soil.
New AI-controlled drones evade detection systems
My friend Volodymyr throws my backpack with a bulletproof vest and helmet in the trunk, I hop in, and off we fly—still slower than a couple of cars swishing by at 120—150 km/hour to avoid drone attacks. A jeep with metallic rectangular devices on top speeds ahead, and Volodymyr says, “We should be moving that fast, but we got the stuff.”
He points at the two drone detectors: one, a black square the size of a soapbar, called Aracchis, starts beeping if a drone is close. The other, Hover, bigger, and with a screen, catches the video signal from the Russian drone.
“Can they see every single drone?” I ask.
“Not the AI-controlled ones. There is one called zhdun—’the one that waits.’ Those run on fiber optic, and they land and sit by the side of the road, waiting for the target they are programmed to attack. Detectors also can’t see regular fiber optic drones—but we will surely see it if it approaches us.”
Both devices burst with high-pitched beeps like some hungry birdlings in a sick nest. Hover’s silver screen is trembling and blinking, meaning the Russian drone is close by, but we are driving so fast that we get away from the drone, so I don’t get to see myself the way the Russian pilot sees me before dropping explosives on me.
An anti-drone tunnel above M-14. Photo by Zarina Zabrisky.
At this point, we dive into a “drone tunnel.” It is an odd structure made of tall poles holding fishing nets billowing in the wind.
Inside this surreal tunnel, the car twists and turns around a smashed minivan, its front a black metallic mess, with a sign “well drilling” on its side. On the other side of the road, a small red sedan sits upside down in a ditch, wheels still spinning.
The fields on both sides are burning. The torn fishing net is flowing like a gauze theater curtain. Russian drones destroyed these cars just a few minutes ago. The tunnel didn’t help.
“The priority for Russian drones is bigger vehicles: trucks, minivans. But if a drone is running low on battery, it will attack us and anything that moves.”
Driving to and from Kherson amid drone strikes, Elvina felt composed and even took a video—but she asks, “Why?”
Khersonians learned to live as human safari rages in their city, drones hunting them from above.
We drive through more tunnels and into the city, where the air becomes toxic, smelling of something like ammonia, and creeps under my skin.
I drop my backpack and head to see my friend Svitlana, who just joined the army and is about to leave her rented studio in Kherson. Her family’s house by the river burned down after an attack. Russian artillery shells killed her husband and mother.
Her son is in the army, but his 20-something wife, three-year-old daughter Stesha, and Svitlana’s teenage daughter share the matchbox-size apartment with her, along with four cats and a pet hedgehog. The young women look sad and lost, but Stesha is jumping on the bed—there is no place on the floor.
“I saw a plane!” she shouts.
Planes have not been flying in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Russians killed her mother and husband and burned her house. Her father couldn’t stand it and died of a heart attack. Her son is a soldier and she has joined the army, to defend her girls.
“We tell her that planes are flying by when we hear aerial bombs and explosions,” says Svitlana. “We saw Russian helicopters dropping something like chemicals.”
She’s already packed to leave. Shelling outside never stops. We hug, and I go back to my neighborhood, downtown Kherson.
Kherson’s symbolic heart lies in ruins
The facade of the White House at Freedom Square in Kherson. Photo by Zarina Zabrisky.
In the heart of the city, at Freedom Square, the ruins of the White House remind me of a burial mound. I remember that there was, in fact, a Scythian burial mound here once. Seeing these creamy blocks of concrete and stone, torn wires sticking out, physically hurts.
The White House was the first building I saw in Kherson after its liberation in November 2022. As the doors of the press tour bus opened, I saw the rectangular classic palace—it seemed to be floating, suspended in the sky like an elegant wedding cake, filled with joy, happiness, and promise. The air then smelled like freedom.
Now, it smells of death and threat—and something like ammonia.
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Inside Human Safari: the film that captures Russia’s drones hunting Ukrainians like prey
In June 2025, the Russian military dropped four guided aerial bombs on the White House, and the façade collapsed. Behind the debris, though, a young green tree is breaking through the rubble, leaves trembling in the breeze.
Russian forces openly target civilians in “human safari”
I check a Russian Telegram channel close to the military: it helps to know what they are up to. Usually, it shares neon-colored aerial videos taken by drones used to hunt civilians, accompanied by cheerful tunes.
Today, it posted a grainy video of explosives dropped on a man walking a big white dog. Both the man and the dog are injured and bleeding. The man, visibly in shock, is dragging his dog somewhere, perhaps to safety, when the video stops.
“We pity no one,” reads the caption. “Do not whine.”
The channel continues posting threats throughout the day, “Leave the area. Every moving object is a target.”
“We pity no one,” says a caption to this video.
A Russian drone drops explosives on a man walking his dog in Kherson suburb. Visibly in shock, the man keeps walking, dragging the injured dog after him.
The next day, the same channel announces that every vehicle on the road to Mykolaiv is a “legitimate target.”
Supply routes to 60,000 Kherson residents under threat
In the evening, two cars are hit by Russian drones. Several civilians are injured. The next morning, three more cars are hit and burned down, and the local administration announces that the highway will be partially shut down in case of the presence of the drones and asks to look for alternative routes.
The problem is that the alternative routes do not really exist. The ones that do are located so close to M14 that they are as dangerous. Some dirt roads go through the mined fields, and most trucks or passenger cars cannot pass through there.
In my corner grocery store, shelves are still filled with local peaches, grapes, and plums, as well as candies and bread. Some goods are missing as the truck drivers refuse to drive downtown Kherson.
Hi, I’m Zarina, a frontline reporter for Euromaidan Press and the author of this piece. We aim to shed light on some of the world’s most important yet underreported stories. Help us make more articles like this by becoming a Euromaidan Press patron.
“It is not an issue yet,” says the saleslady. “We bring eggs and mineral water from a ‘safer’ neighborhood or from the big store that runs its own delivery.”
Yet, once the road is closed, how long will these supplies last? 60,000 civilians are still living in Kherson.
A young mother and child are enjoying coffee at a terrace in Kherson. Photo by Zarina Zabrisky.
By a café, a three-year-old and his mother are blowing bubbles to the sounds of explosions, thin, filmy surface reflecting the blue sky. A group of teenagers, hair dyed, meander down the alley, looking bored and aloof, like all teenagers in the world.
Yet, many have left. Vlada, a young mother from the yard next to mine, is no longer there because the fun garden she kept for her son is overgrown with weeds. The plastic ships and duck in the dried pond are faded from sitting in the sun all summer long. The armchair is torn and broken. Dead pigeons are spread on the ground, and I am not sure why: chemicals, shrapnel, pecking glass dust? Or no one to pick them up?
The leaves on the trees are rusty-red and are already falling.
“Watch your step!” shouts my neighbor. “Mines!”
Life continues under constant drone surveillance
A woman repackaging her shopping on Independence Prospect in Kherson. Photo by Zarina Zabrisky.
Once the trees are bare, there is no more place to hide—and this year, “human safari” is more brutal than last year.
With AI-operated and fiber optic drones, as well as new tactics—swarm of drones, and bigger drones carrying baby-killer-drones—drone warfare turns into a nightmarish sci-fi horror flick on steroids that the UN has deemed a crime to humanity.
Here and there downtown, the streets are protected with fishing nets, so the city starts turning into a drone tunnels labyrinth, as if a giant spider is weaving its web over Kherson. The thin threads are glistening in the sun, and the glass from shattered windows is sparkling on the broken asphalt.
Kherson is still alive, and on Independence Day, people in vyshyvankas, with elaborate hairdos and perfect manicures, are singing the Ukrainian anthem and patriotic songs in bomb shelters.
Checking the sky for drones and the road for mines, I run around the city. To a rock concert in a basement, with a drone making an appearance in the intermission. To a working library in the dilapidated building hit several times.
Despite daily horrors, Ukrainians are defending their identity and culture.
A report from a damaged library in Kherson, still offering theater classes for kids under fire.
I will be reporting from a theater and arts festival in Kherson and Mykolaiv this week. pic.twitter.com/siXIie4UoO
To my yoga studio, where the instructor Jane laughs and shows me how to hang upside down from the fly—with her palm marked by red stitches healing from a drone injury.
My friends text and ask if I am going to a poetry reading in Mykolaiv this weekend. I remember the burning road, cars aflame, and the fact that this week, I could not get a ride out of town.
I have cancelled my trip to Paris for my documentary film premiere, and not just because the road is now closed. There is still a train going to Kyiv, and I can get out, but I want to go to a poetry reading with my Kherson friends.
Zarina Zabrisky is an award-winning American author of five books published internationally, including the novel “We, Monsters” and three short story collections, and journalist. She is a regular contributor to Byline Times, and contributed to Indivisible Movement, Crossing Genres, Digital Left, and elsewhere. Follow her on twitter.
Russian retail chain “Tvoe” has begun selling Inditex brands, including Zara, Bershka, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti, and Oysho across nine stores in seven Russian cities, according to RBC and other Russian media reports confirmed on 22 September 2025.
It happens just three months after Inditex CEO Óscar García Maceiras explicitly ruled out a Russia return, telling the Financial Times on 20 June 2025 that conditions for the group’s return were “certainly not” in place due to the “unfavorable geopolitical environment.”
How the “exit” was structured for easy return
Inditex designed its 2022 Russian ‘withdrawal’ as a temporary retreat, not a permanent exit. The Spanish fashion giant sold its 245 Russian stores to the Lebanese Daher Group—longtime Inditex franchisees in the Middle East—with a built-in mechanism for immediate return.
The sale contract explicitly stated that “in the event of new circumstances that, in Inditex’s opinion, could allow the group’s brands to return to this market,” Daher would be obligated to become an official Inditex franchisee.
This arrangement effectively created a holding pattern rather than a genuine exit.
Financial details raise additional questions about the transaction’s authenticity. Inditex injected €57 million ($67 million) into its Russian operations just two months before selling them for what the company described as a “not significant” sum to the Daher Group in early 2023.
Meanwhile, operational continuity never really stopped. According to a Ukrainian whistleblower’s report, Daher maintained the same supply chains, employed the same staff (including eight employees transferred from Inditex’s Spanish operations), and produced 124 products identical to Zara collections between February and June 2025.
Products now appear in Russian stores
The “Tvoe” chain has now begun selling Inditex brands in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Togliatti, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, and Krasnodar. The clients cannot order or reserve products online in advance, and the company has not disclosed its procurement methods.
According to TASS, this development follows trademark applications filed by Inditex with Russia’s patent office (Rospatent) in September 2025, suggesting formal preparation for re-entering the Russian market.
Corporate conduct undermines Ukraine’s struggle
The timeline exposes how Western corporations maintain profitable relationships with Russia while Ukraine fights for survival. Inditex reopened 50 stores in Ukraine in spring 2024, presenting this as support for the war-torn country while preserving its Russian market access through legal arrangements.
Then Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had previously welcomed international brands’ return to Ukraine as demonstrating “confidence” in the country’s future.
However, the revelation of parallel Russian operations undermines this narrative of corporate solidarity with Ukraine.
“This appears to be a similar playbook to other ‘boomerang’ withdrawals where the groundwork to return when palatable is laid,” Professor Kristian Lasslett of Ulster University, who studies corporate conduct in conflict zones, told the Financial Times in May 2025.
Pattern of sanctions evasion
As the Financial Times explains, the Inditex case illustrates a broader pattern of Western companies using complex legal structures to maintain Russian market presence while avoiding sanctions. More than 800 apparel shipments arrived in Russia from Daher’s Middle Eastern operations before the 2023 sale was even completed, suggesting coordinated preparation for seamless business continuity.
The arrangement allows Inditex to claim technical compliance with sanctions while benefiting from Russian market access through its franchisee network.
The structure provides legal cover while enabling the company to resume official operations instantly when politically convenient.
Inditex generated approximately 8.5% of its operating profit and 5% of its revenue—roughly €1 billion ($1.18 billion)—from Russia before the February 2022 invasion, making the market too valuable to abandon permanently despite public statements about moral opposition to the war.
The corporate conduct reveals how Western self-deterrence enables continued economic relationships with Russia, undermining sanctions effectiveness and prolonging Ukraine’s struggle against Russian aggression.
A Russian news Telegram channel, Astra, has confirmed that a Ukrainian missile and drone strike on occupied Crimea caused substantial damage to Russian military infrastructure overnight on 21 September. Russian Telegram channel Astra cited emergency service sources in detailing the aftermath of the attack.
This confirmed damage comes amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian military-focused outlet Militarnyi noted that disabling Russian air defense capabilities in occupied Crimea is a key objective ahead of deeper strikes. Such operations are typically conducted by various Ukrainian Defense Forces units to blind Russian coverage before targeting strategic sites.
Multiple locations hit across occupied Crimea
Astra reported that the 21 September strike targeted at least three separate locations used by Russian forces in Rozdolne, Simferopol, and Saky districts. The attack reportedly involved both drones and, likely, Neptune cruise missiles.
In northwestern Crimea’s Rozdolne district, two strike drones hit a column of the 31st air defense division near the village of Volochaivka. The drones reportedly destroyed a radar installation of an unspecified model that was part of the mobile air defense unit.
In the Simferopol district, central Crimea, Astra said another drone exploded near the village of Donske, damaging a mobile Pantsir-S1 air defense system. One Russian serviceman was reportedly injured in this strike.
Damage to support infrastructure confirmed
Beyond mobile systems, the strike also hit support facilities used by the same air defense division. According to Astra, two additional strikes—likely carried out with Neptune cruise missiles—damaged several buildings belonging to the 31st division near the village of Vityne in the Saky district in Crimea’s west. These included a barracks, a military club, a training building, and a canteen.
On the day of the attack, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that its forces intercepted 12 drones over Crimea and 4 more over the Black Sea during the night.
Two major Nordic airports shut down overnight due to drone sightings but resumed operations before dawn. The incidents at Copenhagen and Oslo disrupted dozens of flights and triggered investigations in both Denmark and Norway. The drones “disappeared” before they could be recovered, and no drone was identified or captured.
This comes amid a broader escalation of Russian airspace violations targeting NATO countries during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Days ago, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace and remained inside for 12 minutes. That incursion followed earlier incidents involving Russian drones, which prompted military responses from both Poland and Romania. Earlier, a cyberattack disrupted flight systems at London Heathrow, Berlin, and Brussels.
Drone activity shuts down Copenhagen and Oslo airports
Late on 22 September, authorities in Denmark and Norway halted all flight operations at their main airports after drones were spotted in restricted airspace. According to Reuters, Copenhagen Airport suspended all takeoffs and landings from 20:26 local time, citing reports of two or three large drones near its airspace. Around 50 flights were diverted to other airports, FlightRadar reported, according to Suspilne.
Reuters cited Copenhagen Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jakob Hansen, who said, “The police have launched an intensive investigation to determine what kind of drones these are. The drones have disappeared and we have not taken any of them.” Hansen added that Danish and Norwegian police would investigate possible links between the two incidents.
Oslo Gardermoen Airport followed with its own shutdown after drone activity was observed overhead, including near the Akershus Fortress, according to Suspilne. Reports of drones first came in around 23:30. At first, traffic was moved to a single runway, but after another drone was spotted, all operations were suspended. The airspace was reopened by 03:22, according to Norway’s Avinor.
VG reported that at least 12–14 flights were diverted from Oslo. Communication chief Monica Fasting at Oslo Airport told VG that six cancellations were reported by early morning and more delays were expected throughout the day. She confirmed to NTB that airspace was shut down for safety reasons.
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Pål Jonson: Sweden prepared to act if airspace is breached — military response remains an option
No drones recovered, investigation ongoing
Oslo police operations leader Gisle Sveen told VG that law enforcement had not been able to confirm the presence of drones within the restricted zone. Another police official, Pål Bjelland, said authorities were collecting reports to determine whether the sightings were actually drones or other flying objects.
Norwegian police said two individuals had been detained for illegal drone activity in Oslo earlier on 22 September. PST, Norway’s security service, is monitoring the situation. In Denmark, PET and the Danish military are also involved in the investigation.
Swedish outlet Aftonbladet reports that Sweden has declared its readiness to use force to protect its airspace. This stance follows recent Russian violations over NATO territory and echoes similar statements from Poland and the UK.
The renewed Swedish stance comes after a series of Russian provocations across NATO airspace amid the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. On 20 September, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace and remained for 12 minutes. These flights followed earlier incidents that saw both Poland and Romania respond to incoming Russian drones.
Sweden signals readiness to respond with force
Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson stated that Sweden will defend its airspace and has the right to use military force if necessary. He told Aftonbladet that “Sweden will defend its airspace,” and added:
“No country has the right to violate Swedish airspace. Sweden has the right to defend its airspace, with force if needed, and will defend it.”
Jonson noted that the Swedish Armed Forces are already guided by the IKFN directive. This legal framework allows the military to respond to airspace violations, including by using weapons. He emphasized that this includes the right to use force “with or without prior warning.”
NATO allies echo similar threats after Russian violations
Following Russia’s drone incursion into Poland and the Estonian airspace violation by Moscow’s fighter jets, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has issued his own warning, stating Poland will not hesitate to shoot down any aircraft or drones that violate its territory.
“We will shoot down flying objects when they violate our territory and fly over Poland. There is absolutely no discussion about it,” Tusk said at a press conference, according to Reuters, cited by Aftonbladet.
Tusk also stressed the importance of a unified NATO response, saying he must be certain “that all allies will treat this the same way we do.”
Pål Jonson publicly supported Tusk’s position, citing existing Swedish law.
UK says armed confrontation may follow
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that UK forces and NATO allies are prepared for direct armed confrontation with Russia if needed. She said that aircraft entering NATO airspace without clearance “open the door for direct armed confrontation between NATO and Russia,” as quoted by British media.
. Ukrainian forces are executing a methodical campaign to destroy Russian air defense systems from Donetsk to Crimea, achieving air superiority through system demolition rather than fighter dominance.
. Authorities say the suspects trained in Serbia on firearms and crowd-control tactics and were allegedly instructed by Russian operatives ahead of parliamentary elections.
Ukraine insists on tender to buy 20 Korean electric trains – Deputy PM. Deputy PM Kuleba announced Ukraine would use open tenders to select Korean electric train suppliers during his Seoul working visit, as the country seeks to expand its high-speed rail capacity despite recent Russian attacks on existing rolling stock.
On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky will take part in a Security Council meeting on Ukraine, a meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, and hold bilateral meetings, including with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The total combat losses of Russian troops from February 24, 2022, to September 23, 2025, in the war against Ukraine amount to about 1,103,580 soldiers, including 1,010 servicemen in the past 24 hours.
For the second night in a row, Zaporizhzhia has been subjected to massive strikes on infrastructure and residential buildings, with fires breaking out in the city.
Dutch volunteer, member of the Dasha Foundation, Rietje van Domburg, says that in 1940, as a result of bombing, the city of Rotterdam was almost destroyed. This collective historical memory became one of the reasons why both the Dutch government and ordinary citizens actively responded to the tragedy in Ukraine.
A man representing himself in federal court against charges of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump last year at his Florida golf course is set to present his closing argument
Tymur Tkachenko, Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, is preparing an order to close Khreshchatyk daily at 9:00 for the duration of the nationwide minute of silence.
In the town of Borodianka in the Kyiv region, 36 out of 56 businesses located on Central Street have signed memoranda of cooperation with local authorities on the implementation of inclusive routes.
Jerzy Tyc, a Polish citizen who headed an organization dedicated to restoring Soviet war memorials in Poland, has died while serving in the Russian army fighting against Ukraine.
The 60-something Pole had been living in Russia for years before joining Putin’s army under the call sign “Zygmunt.” His death was confirmed by authorities in Russia’s Kursk Oblast on their official Telegram channel.
Polish-Russian relations have deteriorated sharply since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for eastern Ukrainian separatists, with Poland becoming a vocal critic of Russian aggression and strong supporter of Ukraine. Security concerns have intensified considering recent incidents including Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace in 2025. The relationship has further soured through competing narratives, with Russia accusing Poland of Russophobia while Poland calls for tougher EU sanctions and increased NATO presence on its territory.
Received Russian medal for restoring Soviet monuments in Poland
Tyc’s story reveals the complex loyalties that persist decades after the Cold War ended. He led the Kursk Association, which restored dozens of Soviet soldier monuments and graves across Poland. The work earned him Russia’s “Memory of Defenders of the Fatherland” medal in 2020, personally awarded by then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
But Polish authorities saw something different. Russian officials claimed Tyc faced “strong pressure from the Russophobic authorities of Warsaw” and was eventually “forced to leave his homeland.” In recent years, he had been living in Russia before joining the military campaign against Ukraine.
Criticized Polish government on Russian TV
Tyc regularly appeared in Russian media outlets where he criticized Polish government policies. According to RMF24, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova received a group of activists from his association during a televised event several years ago.
Yet in a 2019 interview with TASS, Tyc insisted ordinary Poles supported his work—drawing a sharp distinction between what he saw as hostile government officials and sympathetic citizens.
“For 11 years I have been restoring monuments to Soviet soldiers, traveling throughout Poland. Never has any resident raised a hand against me,” he said. “But this is what officials and politicians say.”
Believed in the “return of Polish-Russian friendship”
In a 2023 interview with the Russian portal gornovosti.ru, Tyc outlined his background, explaining that he had graduated from military school but left the army in 1989 when political changes began in Poland.
He subsequently served in police before dedicating himself to what he called fighting “falsification of history, destruction of monuments, war with the dead.”
“Poles and Russians fought together against a common enemy, but this history is inconvenient for the current Polish authorities, who would prefer to forget about it,” Tyc stated in the interview. He expressed belief in the “return of Polish-Russian friendship.”
That belief ultimately led him to die fighting against Poland’s neighbor and ally. Russian authorities said he “remained faithful to his beliefs until the end, fighting neo-Nazis”—the Kremlin’s standard propagandist justification for its aggression in Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in New York on Monday to participate in high-level events of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Connexion
(@ZarinaZabrisky) August 29, 2025
“We pity no one,” says a caption to this video.
