{"id":481502,"date":"2026-03-18T03:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/481502\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T03:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:41:08","slug":"europe-must-prepare-for-drone-strikes-by-terrorists-and-criminals-warns-zelenskyy-volodymyr-zelenskyy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/481502\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe must prepare for drone strikes by terrorists and criminals, warns Zelenskyy | Volodymyr Zelenskyy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Ukrainian president said it was no longer just \u201ca wealthy madman like Putin\u201d who could afford mass attacks as he demonstrated the latest technology to British MPs and peers.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said the regimes in Moscow and Tehran were \u201cbrothers in hatred\u201d, with Russia using Iranian-designed Shahed drones, as well as its own variants of them, to attack critical infrastructure in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His UK visit came as Keir Starmer<\/a> said the west must not \u201close focus\u201d on Ukraine amid concerns that the Iran conflict had revived Russia\u2019s ailing economy by increasing oil revenue and Kyiv could miss out on air defence systems being deployed to the Middle East instead.<\/p>\n

The prime minister said: \u201cPutin can\u2019t be the one who benefits from the conflict in Iran<\/a>, whether that\u2019s oil prices or the dropping of sanctions. It is really important we keep our resolve in relation to supporting Ukraine, doing everything we can to weaken the hand of Putin.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his speech at Westminster, Zelenskyy said: \u201cIt is not only about a state launching attacks, we must be ready for any kind of strike, including from non-state actors, criminal networks, terrorist groups and even lone attackers who can gain access to such technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the spread of drones, mass attacks no longer cost billions. They cost far less. It is no longer only a wealthy madman like Putin who can afford this, unfortunately, but even now he is still being given money as sanctions of his own are lifted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy suggested the Middle East conflict was \u201cnot a faraway war\u201d for Ukraine because of the military technology shared by Iran and Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIf evil wins, the evolution of war will cross any distance on earth, no ocean will help, no desert, no mountains \u2026 the regimes in Russia and Iran are brothers in hatred, and that is why they are brothers in weapons. We want no such regime to threaten Europe<\/a> or our partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not say Russia cannot innovate. It can, but it does so to kill, to maim, to destroy. This is what it does best, as do the ayatollahs, you can see it in how Shaheds have evolved from something like weapons of the blitz to drones that are faster, more deadly and already using AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Ukraine could provide defensive support \u2013 including interception teams and radars \u2013 to western allies with military and civilian sites in the Middle East that have come under attack from Iranian drones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the kind of reinforcement we offer, and it may soon be needed across Europe. Drones can be launched, not only from land, but also from ships at sea. Such long-range strikes are no longer rare,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European nations should prepare for attacks by non-state actors including criminal networks, terror groups and lone attackers as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-481502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}