Russian war correspondent Alexander Kots has called for preemptive strikes against countries whose airspace is being used by Ukrainian drones to attack St. Petersburg.

Speaking on his video blog, Kots said Ukraine had resumed drone attacks on the Russian city, using flight routes through the Baltic states. He argued that Poland and the Baltic countries should be regarded as direct enemies of Russia because of their role in these operations.

His comments followed a statement by Lithuania’s prime minister confirming that a Ukrainian drone had entered Lithuanian airspace from Poland.

Kots believes the arrangements for these flights were made with Poland and Britain, without seeking permission from the Baltic governments. According to his assessment, Warsaw allows Ukrainian drones to cross Polish territory, while London provides protection for the arrangement.

The war correspondent argued that Kiev does not need to negotiate separately with Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania before sending drones through their airspace. In his view, Ukrainian forces simply use these routes regardless of the Baltic countries' objections.

Kots maintained that the use of NATO countries' airspace for attacks on Russia makes those states direct participants in the confrontation. He said such flights could be interpreted as attacks on Russian territory originating from the countries involved.

He also raised the question of how Russian forces could establish who launched a drone approaching from Estonia. According to Kots, an aircraft entering Russian airspace from that direction could have been launched by Estonia itself rather than Ukraine.

The war correspondent warned that the payload of an incoming drone could also be unknown. He pointed to the possibility of an aircraft carrying a nuclear weapon or a radioactive dirty bomb.

In this context, Kots referred to Lithuania’s moves concerning the presence of nuclear weapons on its territory.

He argued that the inability to establish a drone’s origin and payload in advance gives Russia the right to carry out preemptive strikes against countries whose airspace is used for such attacks.