Lavrov says countries have right to shoot down Russian drones outside Russia

If Russian drones leave Russia’s borders, other countries have the right to shoot them down, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

According to a Ukrinform correspondent in New York, the Russian official made the remark on Saturday during a press briefing at the UN.

“A drone, when it is not flying over our territory — if it has crossed someone’s border but left our airspace — then, I suppose, everyone has the right to do with that drone whatever they consider necessary to ensure their security,” Lavrov said.

At the same time, he issued a threat (“those people will seriously regret it”) in the event of “attempts to shoot down any flying object — or indeed any object at all — over Russian territory.”

Lavrov rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine might restore its territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders, calling such expectations “political blindness and a complete misunderstanding” of the situation.

The Russian minister once again repeated Kremlin manipulations about atrocities committed by Russian troops in Kyiv region in 2022, claiming they were “staged” by the United Kingdom.

Despite overwhelming evidence of Russia’s strikes on civilian infrastructure, Lavrov insisted that “Russia does not attack civilian targets and does not direct drones or missiles at the territories of EU or NATO countries.”

As reported, on Tuesday after meeting with Ukraine’s president, Trump said that given Russia’s current situation, Ukraine is capable of regaining all the territories seized by the aggressor state.