Why has Zelensky resorted to destructive terrorist warfare?
Author: Talib Aliyev, analyst, exclusively for Sangar
Due to the advance of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Donbass and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in September 2025, the Kyiv authorities, in an attempt to change the unfavorable information environment for themselves, intensified the implementation of mass and individual terror actions.
For example, Andriy Klychkov, governor of Oryol Oblast, reported on September 13, 2025, the deaths of two law enforcement officers during an attempt to defuse an explosive device planted under a railway track. On the St. Petersburg–Pskov section in Leningrad Oblast, on September 14, 2025, after a railway explosion, a diesel locomotive derailed, resulting in the death of the train driver.
The responsibility for these terrorist acts was claimed by representatives of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, who justified the need to disable elements of the railway infrastructure, arguing that it was being used in the interests of the Russian Armed Forces in the special military operation zone. Meanwhile, photo and video footage from the scenes of the attacks did not record a single unit of weapons or military equipment.
Volodymyr Zelensky, in his daily address to the nation, thanked Ukrainian intelligence officers for the successful execution of a sabotage-terrorist act on a transport and energy infrastructure facility in Leningrad Oblast. Evidence of a “black PR” campaign also includes new threats from the head of the Kyiv regime regarding strikes on civilian targets in Russian territory.
In summary, it can be stated that Kyiv, having practically exhausted its resource potential for resistance on the battlefield, has resorted to a sabotage-terrorist warfare tactic. The Ukrainian leadership, by analogy with terrorist organizations, does not shy away from mass intimidation of the civilian population, effectively using it as hostages.
