Putin Warns European Troops in Ukraine Mean War with Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned European nations on September 11 and 12, 2026, that deploying troops to Ukraine would constitute a war against Russia. Speaking at the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Putin characterized Western efforts to integrate Ukraine into NATO as an attempt to "finish off" the Russian Federation, though he simultaneously denied that Russia poses a general threat to European countries.

Concurrent with these warnings, the Russian military launched a massive coordinated campaign targeting Ukrainian infrastructure. Strikes hit metallurgy plants in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Kryvyi Rih, as well as port facilities in Odesa and Chornomorsk. In Kyiv, jet-powered drones targeted Ukrnafta petrol stations, killing at least two people. Other strikes hit residential areas and a grocery store in the Zhytomyr region, while drones struck the Starokozache border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova. Ukrainian officials warned that the systematic destruction of ports and potential strikes on Dnieper river bridges could cause a logistical collapse by December.

Ukraine responded with drone strikes against Russian industrial targets, including chemical facilities in the Samara and Perm regions. In diplomatic developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed willingness to meet Putin at the G20 summit in Miami this December. The Kremlin responded by stating Zelenskyy could fly to Moscow if he desires a meeting, though it maintained that any negotiations would not suspend current military operations.

Additionally, Anthropic reported that Russian freelance developers used the Claude AI chatbot to create software for autonomous kamikaze drone swarms, while state-backed hackers used AI to execute cyber-attacks against Ukrainian government and military sectors.