On the morning of September 5, 2026, the Russian Ministry of Defense publicly acknowledged that Russian military forces carried out new strikes on Ukrainian territory over the past 24 hours. This statement came against the backdrop of Kyiv having the day before put forward a condition of 'air silence' for the duration of the visit by American mediators, thereby effectively dismissing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call for a halt to aerial strikes. The ministry announced strikes on a number of Ukrainian regions and claimed to have hit several military targets; however, as in similar cases before, the adversary provided no evidence or visual confirmation of these claims.
Acknowledgment of Attacks and Rejection of the 'Air Ceasefire'
The key significance of the Russian Defense Ministry's morning statement lies not so much in the list of allegedly hit objects as in the fact that Russia chose not to honor the 'window of silence' agreed at the Kyiv level. In essence, this means that Moscow reneged on the air ceasefire at the most critical moment — when, according to the American side, envoys of U.S. President Donald Trump carrying a proposal to end the war are en route to Moscow and Kyiv. In practice, the Russian military bloc continued its aerial operations, ignoring the logistical and negotiating conditions that Ukraine had put forward as a security guarantee for the mediators' arrival.
Zelenskyy's Statements on 'Silence' During the Visit
As a reminder, on September 4 Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured that over Saturday and Sunday — during the visit of U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys to Moscow and Kyiv — 'Ukraine will ensure the normal functioning of Russian airspace so that negotiators can arrive safely.' 'There will be no aerial strikes from our side, and Russia, in turn, should mirror this by ensuring silence without its aerial strikes for the time needed to conduct these negotiations and resolve the logistical issues tied to this American visit,' the Ukrainian leader emphasized. In other words, Kyiv formulated the condition in a mirror fashion: in exchange for its own abstention from strikes, it demanded the same from Russia; however, judging by the Russian Defense Ministry's morning statements, this reciprocity was not upheld.
Russian Claims of Strikes on Ukraine and '53 Drones'
Moreover, the Russian Ministry of Defense began claiming that the Ukrainian Defense Forces also carried out an aerial attack on the aggressor state's territory overnight. In the same vein, the ministry stated that Russian air defense forces allegedly 'neutralized' 53 Ukrainian drones over various regions. On none of these points — neither the fact of attacks on Russian territory nor the number of intercepted drones — did the adversary traditionally present any evidence, which renders such figures impossible to independently verify and leaves them in the realm of one-sided claims.
Contradictory Data
It is important here to honestly note the discrepancy between the versions. On the one hand, Zelenskyy stated outright that 'there will be no aerial strikes from our side' and put forward the condition of reciprocal silence from Russia. On the other hand, the Russian Defense Ministry asserts the opposite — that Ukraine allegedly carried out an aerial strike on Russian territory and that dozens of drones were shot down. These two positions directly contradict each other: if Kyiv did indeed honor its promise not to carry out strikes, then Moscow's claims of a 'Ukrainian attack' and of '53 drones' are not corroborated by either side with any evidence. In addition, there is an inconsistency in the logic of the 'ceasefire': Kyiv proposed a mutual pause, while the Russian side, by acknowledging its own new strikes, effectively declared its withdrawal from this regime. Until either side provides publicly verifiable data, both versions — of 'silence' on Ukraine's part and of an 'attack' by it — remain mutually contradictory.
Context: The Witkoff and Kushner Mission and Pessimistic Expectations
Earlier, Donald Trump stated that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are carrying to Kyiv and Moscow a proposal to end the war. At the same time, according to available information, expectations from Witkoff's and Kushner's visit to Moscow are assessed as pessimistic, and the envoys' trip to Kyiv had previously had to be postponed. In such a climate, the Russian Defense Ministry's morning acknowledgment of new strikes on Ukraine looks like an additional factor reducing the chances that the American mediators will be able to hold negotiations within the planned 'window' under conditions of a real, rather than declarative, 'air silence'.
