Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Europe Must Prepare for Drone Strikes by Terrorists and Criminals, Warns Zelenskyy

THE GUARDIAN: Ukraine’s president says mass attacks on civilians are no longer the preserve of a ‘madman like Putin’

Screenshot taken from this Guardian article. | Keir Starmer welcomes Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street on Tuesday. The two leaders discussed defence partnerships. | Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty Images

European nations should prepare for attacks by non-state actors including criminal networks, terror groups and lone attackers as drone technology advances, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned.

The Ukrainian president said it was no longer just “a wealthy madman like Putin” who could afford mass attacks as he demonstrated the latest technology to British MPs and peers.

Zelenskyy said the regimes in Moscow and Tehran were “brothers in hatred”, with Russia using Iranian-designed Shahed drones, as well as its own variants of them, to attack critical infrastructure in Ukraine.

His UK visit came as Keir Starmer said the west must not “lose focus” on Ukraine amid concerns that the Iran conflict had revived Russia’s ailing economy by increasing oil revenue and Kyiv could miss out on air defence systems being deployed to the Middle East instead. » | Pippa Crerar | Political editor | Tuesday, March 17, 2026