Addressing the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Saturday, the official dismissed claims made by certain European officials, according to whom the Kremlin is considering attacking NATO in the coming years.

”Russia has not had such intentions,” Lavrov insisted, echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin, who previously described such speculations as “nonsense.”

According to the official, Moscow has repeatedly invited NATO member states to work out “legally binding security guarantees” in Europe, but the West has ignored these overtures.

The Russian diplomat expressed concern over the fact that certain EU and NATO officials “are beginning to seriously talk about a third world war as a potential scenario.”

He accused the Western powers of seeking to impose their unipolar approaches on the entire global community while ignoring other nations’ legitimate interests.

Lavrov also stated that the Russian military never intentionally launches kamikaze drones or missiles toward NATO member states.

Earlier this month, Poland accused Russia of sending a volley of unmanned aerial vehicles into its airspace – an allegation Moscow has denied.

According to subsequent media reports, the drones may have been decoys that strayed off course due to electronic warfare measures.

Speaking in Kyiv after his meeting with Donald Trump at the UN in New York, the Ukrainian president said Russia was preparing for a bigger conflict.

“Putin will not wait to finish his war in Ukraine. He will open up some other direction. Nobody knows where. He wants that,” he added.

Ukraine’s president noted the Kremlin was deliberately checking Europe’s capacity to protect its skies, after drone sightings in Denmark, Poland and Romania and the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets. More drones were spotted on Friday night above a Danish military base, and over a Norwegian base on Saturday.

Zelensky suggested EU governments were struggling to deal with this new and dangerous threat.

Zelensky’s remarks follow what he said were “very nice” talks with Trump on the sidelines of the UN general assembly. After the meeting, the US president stated he believed Ukraine could win back all the territory it has lost since 2022, with the support of Europe and NATO.

Trump also noted Russia’s economy was in big trouble and described its military as a “paper tiger”. Asked to explain this apparent warmer tone towards Ukraine, Zelensky said he had briefed Trump about the realities on the battlefield. He told him Russia’s advances were often fleeting: “It’s not success. It’s temporary presence.”

The US president now had greater “faith” in Ukraine and has discovered that Russia treated him and everyone else with “disrespect”, Zelensky said. He declined to comment on reports that he had asked the White House for US Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of striking Moscow, saying: “It’s a sensitive issue.”

In recent months Kyiv has carried out a series of successful strikes against Russian oil refineries using domestically produced long-range drones. Zelensky added that if the Kremlin tried to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure again this winter its own capital will experience retaliatory blackouts.

Friday’s announcement comes after rogue drones entered Polish airspace on September 10, rattling eastern EU members.

Earlier this week, Denmark closed some of its airports after drones were flown near them, with the country’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warning that hybrid attacks were becoming more frequent.

Although Danish authorities have not concluded their investigations, Frederiksen stressed that Russia was currently the primary threat to European security.

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the drone incidents in Poland and Denmark.

“The repeated violations of our airspace are unacceptable. The message is clear: Russia is testing the EU and NATO. And our response must be firm, united and immediate,” EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said after chairing a virtual meeting of 10 countries on Europe’s eastern flank on Friday.

Kubilius, who called the meeting a “milestone”, added the drone shield could take a year to build, and that envoys from the countries would meet soon to develop “a detailed conceptual and technical roadmap” for the path ahead.

The top priority is an “effective detection system,” he continued.

EU officials say that within the first year, a network of sensors will be developed to better spot drone incursions. The longer-term plan is to build the capabilities to intercept drones.

When drones were detected in Polish airspace earlier this month, NATO jets scrambled to shoot them down with expensive missiles.

Ukraine, which has developed cheaper ways to down drones amid its ongoing war with Russia, also attended the EU talks on Friday.

“The drone wall will create a fundamentally new defence ecosystem in Europe, of which Ukraine is ready to be a part,” Ukraine’s Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on social media.

Kubilius, speaking to the AFP news agency on Friday, said: “We need to move fast. And we need to move, taking all the lessons from Ukraine and making this drone wall together with Ukraine.”

Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland had already been working on a drone wall project. However, in March, the European Commission rejected a joint Estonia-Lithuania request for funds to launch the initiative.

The EU’s executive branch has changed its stance after the recent drone incursions.

Earlier this month, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission president, called for a drone wall to be developed.

Von der Leyen has stated that the EU will spend 6 billion euros ($7bn) on establishing a drone alliance with Ukraine.

The drone wall is expected to be discussed further at an EU summit in Copenhagen next week and at a meeting later this month in Brussels.