‘No Rules Now’: Putin Orders Civilian Attacks, Zelensky Says

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military commanders to abandon previous constraints on aerial attacks and intensify strikes on civilian sites, President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday, Oct. 2.Zelensky cited intelligence obtained by Ukrainian agencies, including what the FT described as intercepted communications between Kremlin officials. Kyiv has not publicly released the intercepts, and their contents could not be independently verified.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.“He said there are no rules now,” Zelensky said, referring to the alleged order from Putin.According to Zelensky, the instruction was issued in September, as Russia intensified attacks on Kyiv and increasingly struck schools, hospitals, telecommunications facilities and data centers.Zelensky speaks from school bomb shelterZelensky spoke to the FT inside the bomb shelter of a Kyiv school struck by a Russian jet-powered drone on Thursday.The school’s director said 104 students and 60 teachers survived because they reached the underground shelter before the drone hit shortly after 9 a.m.The drone’s 50-kilogram (110-pound) warhead pierced the floor but failed to detonate, Ukrainian authorities said. The impact nevertheless damaged the building and started a fire.Zelensky later called attacks on educational institutions “a deliberate tactic”, saying Russia was attempting to terrorize civilians and disrupt ordinary life. Other Topics of Interest Last-Minute Push for Russia Sanctions Bill From hallway conversations to emotional appeals, Ukrainian advocates reveal what happened behind the scenes as Congress prepared a Russia sanctions vote. The FT said debris recovered at the school bore markings from Russian manufacturers and handwritten Russian text. Some components were reportedly manufactured in Russia on July 28, while others appeared to be Western-made.Russia has denied deliberately attacking civilian sites. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the FT that Russian forces do not strike schools or hospitals.However, Ukraine’s Education Ministry has recorded more than 4,700 attacks on educational institutions since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The World Health Organization has verified more than 3,000 attacks affecting healthcare facilities.Deliberately attacking civilians or civilian objects constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law.Russia seeks to pressure civiliansZelensky said Russia had previously concentrated much of its long-range campaign on military and energy infrastructure, although civilian sites have been repeatedly struck throughout the full-scale invasion.He alleged that Moscow had now deliberately expanded its target list because Russian forces had failed to achieve their objectives on the battlefield, particularly in the Donbas.The new campaign seeks “to pressure people,” Zelensky said, describing the strikes as an attempt to frighten civilians, force residents to leave Ukrainian cities and weaken the country’s ability to continue resisting Russia.On Monday, a Russian drone struck Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences in central Kyiv. Russia also repeatedly attacked the Pivdennyi Bridge in Kyiv on Thursday, damaging a support column, the road surface and a barrier and disrupting transport across the Dnipro.Recent Russian strikes have also damaged Ukrainian schools, healthcare facilities, warehouses, businesses and communications infrastructure. A Sept. 23 attack damaged Kyiv data centers, disrupting internet service for some residents.Jet-powered drones strain Ukrainian defensesZelensky said Russia had launched around 500 drones over the previous day, approximately half of them jet-powered models that fly considerably faster than conventional Shahed-type drones.Ukraine intercepted around 57% of the jet-powered drones, compared with between 85% and 90% of conventional models, he said.Russia’s use of jet-powered drones increased eightfold between June and August, according to figures previously released by Ukraine’s Air Force. Their higher speed gives defenders less time to detect and intercept them and can force Ukraine to use comparatively expensive aircraft and missiles.Zelensky said F-16 fighter jets had proven effective against the new drones. However, around half of Ukraine’s F-16 fleet was spending extended periods outside the country for maintenance and repairs, he said.Kyiv is seeking Western assistance to move more maintenance work into Ukraine so that aircraft can return to service faster.Ukraine is also testing five high-speed interceptor drone models. Zelensky said one model could enter production at a rate of approximately 400 units by the end of October, while the other four remained in testing.He identified shortages of suitable engines and insufficient financing as the main obstacles to mass production.Western pressure ‘not enough’Zelensky also criticized the US and European governments for failing to apply sufficient economic and diplomatic pressure on Putin to end the war.Asked whether Ukraine’s partners were doing everything possible to help, he replied: “Not enough, of course not enough.”Zelensky argued that Russia’s partners had the leverage required to increase the cost of continuing the invasion but lacked the political will to use it fully. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.