Closing summary
Joe Biden, the US president, said Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has failed as he urged the UN to keep supporting Kyiv until it is victorious. “Putin’s war has failed at its core aim. He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free,” Biden said in his last address as president to the UN general assembly.
Excerpts from a Good Morning America interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska have been released. In them, Zelenskyy discussed recent reports that Russia has been using Chinese satellites and taking photos of the details of the objects on nuclear facilities. “In our experience, if Russia takes photos of a certain object then there is a threat of strikes against the nuclear objects. That is a nuclear terror,” he said.
Zelenskyy said his “victory plan” – which he is due to present to Joe Biden during his visit to the US this week – is not about negotiating with Russia, but finding a way of ending the conflict diplomatically. The head of the presidential office Andriy Yermak confirmed that an invitation to join Nato is part of Ukraine’s so-called “victory plan”, details of which have not been revealed yet by Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said tens of thousands of lives will be lost and thousands of schools destroyed if he is denied permission by the US to use long-range western weapons to strike deep inside Russia.
Zelenskyy will speak at the UN general assembly on Wednesday, and is due to meet US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, as well as Joe Biden during his trip to the US this week.
Zelenskyy said Russian strikes killed three people and injured at least 24 in the north-east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday afternoon. He called for the UN general assembly to discuss Russia’s attacks on his country.
Russia plans to maintain defence spending at an historic high in 2025, Bloomberg News reported, suggesting that the Kremlin intend to continue its invasion of Ukraine for the foreseeable future.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Vladyslav Vlasiuk said that 60% of the foreign parts found in Russian weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine come via China.
Thank you for following today’s latest news. This blog is closing now but you can read all our Ukraine coverage here.
Russian strikes killed three people and injured at least 24 in the north-east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv this afternoon, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
“The targets of the Russian bombs were an apartment building, a bakery, a stadium. In other words, the everyday life of ordinary people,” the Ukrainian president said in a post on X. “So far, we know of 3 killed and 24 injured,” he said.
Another Russian strike on Kharkiv.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 24, 2024
The targets of the Russian bombs were an apartment building, a bakery, a stadium. In other words, the everyday life of ordinary people. Russia is a terrorist, and it proves this every day with its own actions, with its choice to wage war, and… pic.twitter.com/Jy44H7MRTG
Zelenskyy, who is in the US for the latest round of international diplomacy on the war, called for the UN general assembly to discuss Russia’s attacks on his country.
“We just need to stop the terror. To have security. To have a future. We need Russia to end this criminal and unprovoked aggression that violates all global rules,” he said.
Updated
Putin’s war has failed, Joe Biden says
The US president, Joe Biden, has been speaking at the UN general assembly in New York. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, desperate for more weapons from the west, has been carefully listening to what he is saying. “The good news is Putin’s war has failed at his core aim,” Biden said.
He then promised to continue to support Kyiv until it achieves a “durable peace”. Biden said:
He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free. He set out the weaken Nato, but Nato is bigger, stronger, more united than ever before, with two new members, Finland and Sweden, but we cannot let up.
The world now has another choice to make. Will we sustain our support to help Ukraine win this war, to preserve its freedom, or walk away and let aggression be renewed and a nation be destroyed.
I know my answer. We cannot grow weary. We cannot look away, and we will not let up on our support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins a just and durable peace in the UN Charter.
You can follow the latest developments at the UN general assembly in our US politics live blog.
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, yesterday in New York.
Here is a translated readout from Zelenskyy’s office summarising what was discussed:
The head of state thanked India for supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Narendra Modi discussed the implementation of cooperation in the areas agreed upon during the historic visit of the prime minister of India to Kyiv a month ago.
At that time, it was about intensifying trade, economic and defense cooperation, involving India in postwar reconstruction, as well as interaction in the fields of education, science and culture.
During the meeting, special attention was paid to strengthening cooperation on international platforms, in particular within the framework of the UN and G20, as well as the implementation of the peace formula and preparation for the second peace summit.
Zelenskyy last met with Modi in August during the Indian leader’s historic visit to Kyiv. The trip was the first to Ukraine by an Indian leader since the country’s 1991 independence from the Soviet Union. It follows a period of strained relations. Zelenskiy criticised Modi’s trip to Moscow in July, which occurred on the same day Russian missiles flattened a children’s hospital in Kyiv, sparking a global outcry.
Updated
More on the Russian attack reported in Kharkiv. “Russia is terrorising the Kharkiv region with impunity … A direct strike on a residential building,” Ukraine’s ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets wrote on Telegram.
Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the building had already been attacked by Russia at the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“It was almost repaired, windows were installed, it was insulated, and prepared for heating season. The enemy hit it second time,” Terekhov said.
Russia attacked at least four districts in the afternoon, Terekhov added, including the most densely populated area of the city. Several apartment blocks were also reportedly damaged.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city located about 30 km (18 miles) from the Russian border, and the surrounding region regularly come under Russian attacks. Moscow’s troops extensively use highly destructive guided bombs that Ukrainian air defences struggle to intercept.
Updated
At least three killed in Russian strike on Kharkiv
At least three people were killed and 15 were injured in a Russian strike on Kharkiv, local authorities said, Reuters reported.
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, met with his colleagues from the Nordics and Baltics on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.
“We spoke about strengthening Ukraine’s energy resilience ahead of winter and ensuring Russia’s accountability,” he said.
I took part in NB8 ministerial on the sidelines of UNGA with my colleagues from Nordic and Baltic countries. We spoke about strengthening Ukraine’s energy resilience ahead of winter and ensuring Russia’s accountability. I thank our friends for their commitment and leadership. pic.twitter.com/d9z9bwdw3o
— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) September 24, 2024
Summary of the day so far...
Excerpts from a Good Morning America interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska have been released. In them, Zelenskyy discussed recent reports that Russia has been using Chinese satellites and taking photos of the details of the objects on nuclear facilities. “In our experience, if Russia takes photos of a certain object then there is a threat of strikes against the nuclear objects. That is a nuclear terror,” he said.
Zelenskyy said his “victory plan” – which he is due to present to Joe Biden during his visit to the US this week – is not about negotiating with Russia, but finding a way of ending the conflict diplomatically. The head of the presidential office Andriy Yermak confirmed that an invitation to join Nato is part of Ukraine’s so-called “victory plan”, details of which have not been revealed yet by Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said tens of thousands of lives will be lost and thousands of schools destroyed if he is denied permission by the US to use long-range western weapons to strike deep inside Russia.
Zelenskyy will speak at the UN general assembly on Wednesday and is also due to meet US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
Russia plans to maintain defence spending at an historic high in 2025, Bloomberg News reported, suggesting that the Kremlin intend to continue its invasion of Ukraine for the foreseeable future.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Vladyslav Vlasiuk said that 60% of the foreign parts found in Russian weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine come via China.
Updated
In the opening summary, we reported that Russian forces have begun storming the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a stronghold that has resisted Russian attack since the beginning of the war. These reports came mainly from Russian war bloggers and state media.
Unverified video on Russian state media showed Vuhledar, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, under heavy artillery and aerial bombardment.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian security council’s centre for countering disinformation, said Russia’s use of guided aerial bombs had helped it to advance in the area.
He said:
(Vuhledar) used to be easy to defend, it is on high ground. But with the active arrival of guided aerial bombs at the front, the enemy managed to destroy it and move to the flank.
Guided aerial bombs and aviation are the only things that allow the enemy infantry to move.
Separately, Ukraine’s Deep State open-source intelligence analysts said on Telegram that Russian troops were trying to encircle Vuhledar and had been pounding it with artillery and guided bombs.
Updated
It will take 30 years to bring back all the Ukrainian children abducted by Russia at the current rate of return, Ukraine's first lady says
Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska has expressed her desire to help ensure the return of thousands of Ukrainian children forcibly taken by Russia
An estimated 19,500 Ukrainian children are being held in Russia, having been forcibly transferred or deported to Russia or the territories it has occupied. “They are being told that nobody is looking for them in Ukraine. Nobody needs them in Ukraine,” Zelenska told Good Morning America (GMA).
She said it is “dangerous” to keep waiting, but adds that returning the children has been a very slow process (388 children have been returned from Russia, she says).
“If we are going to bring our children back at this rate, we will need more than 30 years to bring them back,” Zelenska told GMA.
Updated
Zelenskyy: Tens of thousands of lives will be lost if Ukraine is denied permission to use western weapons deep inside Russia
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pleading with allies for months to let Ukraine fire western missiles including long-range US Atacms and British Storm Shadows into Russia to limit Moscow’s ability to launch attacks. He is expected to reiterate these pleas during his diplomatic visit to the US this week, when he will meet Joe Biden.
The Ukrainian president is asked by Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts what would happen if he is denied permission to use the western weapons to strike deep inside Russia.
Zelenskyy replied:
Putin will continue to destroy us, to kill people, to kill children, absolutely. He will act in this way. We will lose thousands of schools and tens of thousands of lives. That is what will be happening.
He thanked the American people for all their help and support so far and said “we are closer to the peace than we think”.
EXCLUSIVE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska sit down with @RobinRoberts to discuss the “Victory Plan” he will present to Biden: "It's not about negotiation with Russia. It's a bridge to a diplomatic way out, to stop the war.” pic.twitter.com/urY0rPlRTJ
— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 24, 2024
Updated
Zelenskyy warns of 'nuclear terror' amid threat of Russian strikes against nuclear facilities
In the interview with Good Morning America, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also discusses recent reports that Russia has been using Chinese satellites and taking photos of the details of the objects on nuclear facilities.
He said:
In our experience, if Russia takes photos of a certain object then there is a threat of strikes against the nuclear objects. That is a nuclear terror. Such things we share with many leaders who can influence Russia and influence Putin.
Zelenskyy did not say whether the Chinese satellites that Russia has used were commercial satellites or controlled by the Chinese government.
In a post on X on Saturday, Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha wrote: “According to Ukrainian intelligence, [the] Kremlin is preparing strikes on Ukrainian nuclear energy critical objects ahead of winter.” The attacks would focus on the transmission substations and other “open distribution devices” at the nuclear stations, he wrote.
Beijing has said that China’s position on Ukraine was to “promote peace talks and political settlement” and that it does not provide direct military aid to Russia.
Updated
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska have sat down with Good Morning America to discuss the “victory plan” the Ukrainian leader is to present to the US President Joe Biden during his diplomatic visit to the US this week. Zelenskyy said the plan is not about negotiating with Russia, but finding a way of ending the conflict diplomatically. “Only with a strong position we can speak,” he said, stressing that asking western allies to bolster Ukrainian defences will help force Russia into stopping the war.
Zelenskyy said he wants to discuss the plan with both presidential candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, along with Biden. “I would want that no matter who is elected that Ukraine does not suffer,” he told Good Morning America.
His comments come after Trump claimed in a speech on Monday that Zelenskyy wants the Democrats to in the US presidential election in November.
Updated
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will hold talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during a visit to Russia next month to attend the Brics summit, a government spokesperson shas aid.
The visit to the Brics summit in the Volga valley city of Kazan from 22 October to 24 will be Pezeshkian’s first to Russia since he took office in late July.
“The president will visit the Russian Federation and participate in the BRICS summit,” Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told reporters.
He “will also hold bilateral meetings with the president of Russia,” she added.
The spokesperson said that a “strategic partnership agreement” between Iran and Russia “is almost finalised”, without elaborating on the details.
The two governments, which both face sweeping western sanctions, have forged strong ties in various sectors, including military cooperation.
The latest sanctions, targeting Iran’s air transport links, were imposed over its alleged supply of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine, something Tehran denies.
In 2006, Brazil, Russia, India and China created the Bric group to challenge a world order dominated by the west. South Africa joined in 2010, making it Brics.
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates became members at the beginning of this year.
Invitation to Nato is part of Ukraine's 'victory plan' - senior official says
An invitation to join Nato is part of Ukraine’s so-called “victory plan”, the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak confirmed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to present a “plan for victory” in the war to the US president, Joe Biden, during this week’s visit to the US. The plan, details of which Zelenskyy has so far publicly held back, appears to be a big push from the Ukrainian leader to try to persuade Washington and other allies to provide further and deeper aid to his country in an effort to force Moscow to end the conflict on terms acceptable to Kyiv. Ukrainian officials have suggested that Russia could eventually be invited to a summit to discuss a resolution to the conflict under the new plan.
“Ukraine’s invitation to Nato is part of the victory plan,” Yermak wrote on Telegram on Tuesday.
The Kyiv Independent reports that Ukraine would ask for Nato membership within the months, not years, though this has not officially been confirmed by Kyiv.
Yermak said Zelenskyy’s plan “contains a clear vision of the steps that must be taken to ensure a just and lasting peace”, adding that it contains both diplomatic and military terms.
He said Ukraine must have the tactical advantage on the battlefield for Moscow to stop its war. Despite stopping Russian advances in “most directions”, Yermak said Ukrainian forces still lacked sufficient resources and technology to produce “everything we need”. Ukraine is urging its allies to increase and speed up the delivery of military aid packages, including drones, long-range systems and artillery shells.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for his country to be admitted to Nato, the 32-member defensive alliance, as soon as possible.
Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing Nato secretary general, said Ukraine’s membership to Nato is not a “question of if, but when”, though he said Ukraine would not become a member during the war with Russia.
Updated
In an earlier post, we mentioned that the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, was asked what Russia’s response to a possible decision by the west to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with western missiles would be.
Here is some more of what Peskov told journalists at the briefing:
Please re-listen and re-read the statements that the president has made on this issue – I mean on the topic of possible permission for the use of western weapons deep into the territory of Russia.
The statement that the president made in St. Petersburg. The position of the Russian Federation is very clearly stated there.
Russia would be forced to take what Russian President Vladimir Putin called “appropriate decisions” based on the new threats. Peskov did not specify what these “decisions” would be, but he has previously spoken of the option of arming the west’s enemies with Russian weapons to strike western targets abroad.
Speaking in St. Petersburg on 12 September, Putin had said: “If this decision (on missiles) is taken, it will mean nothing less than the direct involvement of Nato countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine. This will be their direct participation, and this, of course, will significantly change the very essence, the very nature of the conflict.”
Ukraine’s President Voldymyr Zelenskyy called on the US president, Joe Biden again on Saturday to allow Ukraine to carry out long-range strikes inside Russia. He wants to be able to use British, French and Italian Storm Shadow missiles, as well as US-made Atacms to hit airbases and other military targets inside Russia.
Updated
Russia plans to maintain defence spending at historic high next year - report
Russia plans to maintain defence spending at an historic high in 2025, Bloomberg News reports, suggesting that the Kremlin intend to continue its invasion of Ukraine for the foreseeable future.
The Kremlin is increasing up the spending as its forces slowly advance in eastern Ukraine. The Russian government has raised personal and corporate taxes to plug holes in the budget.
Here is an excerpt of the Bloomberg article, which you can read in full here if you have a subscription:
Draft three-year budget proposals seen by Bloomberg News show the government intends to increase defense spending to 13.2tn rubles ($142bn) in 2025 from 10.4tn rubles projected for this year, putting it at 6.2% of gross domestic product.
Military expenditure is planned to decline to 5.6% of GDP in 2026 and 5.1% in 2027, according to Bloomberg calculations based on the draft data.
Spending on national defense and domestic security is projected to consume around 40% of Russia’s total budget disbursement in 2025 as Putin continues to shift the economy to a war footing with the invasion of Ukraine already deep into its third year.
That’s greater than the combined allocation for education, health care, social policies and the national economy, according to the budget draft that’s likely to be submitted to Russia’s parliament soon.
One person has been killed and two others injured by a Russian attack in which guided aerial bombs were used on the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka, the Dontesk regional governor, Vadym Filashkin, said.
The attack this morning damaged two unspecified infrastructure facilities, Filashkin said. The eastern town lies about 12 kilometers (8 miles) from Chasiv Yar, a stragetically important town on high ground where Ukrainian forces are attempting to stave off Russian westward advances.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has been giving his regular briefing to journalists. Here are some of the highlights from what he said:
Peskov said Russia has no alternative but to achieve all of its aims in its war in Ukraine (what the Kremlin frames as its “special military operation”). He said that as soon as the aims were achieved, the conflict would end.
Vladimir Putin will today hold talks with German Gref, the CEO of Russia’s largest lender Sberbank. It is not clear what the agenda for the meeting is.
Peskov said people should re-listen to Putin’s statements in St Petersburg to understand Russia’s response to a possible decision by the west to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with western missiles. In St Petersburg in June, Putin said he could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the US and its European allies if they allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with long-range western weapons.
Ukraine will have to be realistic about recovering territory captured by Russia, Czech president says
In an interview with the New York Times published yesterday, Petr Pavel, the Czech president, said that Ukraine “will have to be realistic” about its prospects of recovering territory occupied by Russia.
“The most probable outcome of the war will be that a part of Ukrainian territory will be under Russian occupation, temporarily,” he said. Pavel, a former senior Nato general that has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine during the full-scale Russian invasion, said that “temporary thing” could last years.
Pavel said there were “a number of examples” of territories held temporarily by Moscow, without specifying what ones. Pavel told the New York Times that a defeat of either Ukraine or Russia “will simply not happen”, adding that the end of the war would probably be “somewhere in between”.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a withdrawal of all Russian troops, the restoration of Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders and a means to bring Russia to account for its full-scale invasion, which was launched in February 2022.
Zelenskyy, who had refused to engage in direct talks with Russia, seemed to pivot slightly over the summer, indicating that direct talks with Moscow could begin as soon as November.
Updated
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has triggered a significant rise in homelessness, according to a new report, with almost a quarter of those sleeping rough or in emergency shelters people who have had to flee from their homes.
The exact number of homeless people in Ukraine is not known, but the charity Depaul International surveyed more than 200 people living on the street or in emergency shelters.
The findings highlight the war’s profound toll on Ukraine’s civilians, with more than 3.5 million people internally displaced since the conflict started. Many of the 6.2 million Ukrainian refugees across Europe are also at risk of homelessness.
Anna Skoryk, the interim chief executive of Depaul Ukraine, told the Guardian: “Every day more people lose their homes because of occupation, shelling or because they’re close to the frontline. We cannot help everyone alone.”
The UN reported in February that 2m homes had been destroyed or damaged. Meanwhile, Russian forces continue to advance in eastern Ukraine, prompting the evacuation from Pokrovsk of about 20,000 people in the past month.
You can read the full story by my colleague, Liz Cookman, here:
Russia’s overnight attack on Ukraine’s central Poltava region damaged energy infrastructure which cut power to 20 settlements, local authorities have said.
The attack also damaged several private residences in the region without causing any casualties, Poltava’s regional governor said.
Volodymr Zelenskyy held talks in New York with German, Indian and Japanese leaders on Monday trying to shore up support for Kyiv’s war efforts. “We talked about how to make a just peace closer,” the Ukrainian president said on Telegram after meeting with German chancellor Olaf Scholz. “The main thing is to maintain unity”, he said, adding that he had discussed energy aid with the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, and that Delhi and Kyiv were “dynamically developing” their relations after a meeting with prime minister Narendra Modi.
Here are some pictures of Zelenskyy from yesterday:
We mentioned reports of Russian airstrikes on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a frequent target for attacks, in the opening summary. Here is the latest on the situation there.
Ukraine’s state emergency service said that one man was killed and six injured, including a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, by “massive” Russian airstrikes on the city over the course of two hours after 9pm local time on Monday evening.
Airstrikes and drones set fire to an infrastructure facility and residential buildings, the regional governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram.
A municipal official, Regina Kharchenko, said that 74 blocks of flats and 24 private houses were damaged in various districts of the city.
Over half of foreign components in Russian weapons come via China, Ukraine says
Ukraine’s presidential adviser Vladyslav Vlasiuk has been speaking to journalists. In comments carried by Reuters, he said that 60% of the foreign parts found in Russian weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine come via China.
He said:
If you take all the usual types of weapons and count the foreign made components – about 60% would be coming from China. We have had lengthy discussions with some manufacturers about this. The PRC (China) is the biggest problem I would say.
At a summit in Washington over the summer, Nato accused Beijing of becoming “a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine” and demanded China halt shipments of “weapons components” and other technology vital to the Russian military.
The final communique, approved by the 32 Nato members at the summit, also said that Beijing had become a large-scale supporter of Russia’s “defence industrial base”.
“This includes the transfer of dual-use materials, such as weapons components, equipment, and raw materials that serve as inputs for Russia’s defence sector,” the declaration said. Beijing has denied providing direct military aid to Russia and has presented itself as a mediator trying to bring Moscow and Kyiv to the table to agree to a peace plan.
Updated
Zelenskyy: War with Russia is closer to end than many believe
We are restarting our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine and will give you the latest updates throughout the day.
Here are the latest developments:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he believes the war with Russia is “closer to the end” than many believe and called on allies to strengthen Ukraine’s army. In excerpts of an interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America, set to be broadcast in full on Tuesday, the president said: “I think that we are closer to the peace than we think … We are closer to the end of the war.” He added: “That’s why we’re asking our friends, our allies, to strengthen us. It’s very important.” Zelenskyy told ABC that Vladimir Putin is “afraid” of Ukraine’s Kursk operation, in which it has taken more than 1,000 square km of Russian territory.
Zelenskyy is in the US to attend sessions at the UN general assembly as well as to present a “victory plan” to US President Joe Biden and presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
After a bipartisan meeting with members of the US Congress, Zelenskyy said “decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year”. The US played a “critical role” in protecting freedom around the world, he said in a Telegram post, and praised the US Congress and both main parties for their “unwavering commitment to this cause”.
His comments came as Republican presidential candidate Trump suggested Zelenskyy wanted Harris to win the November election. “I think Zelenskyy is the greatest salesman in history. Every time he comes into the country, he walks away with 60 billion dollars,” Trump said at a rally in Pennsylvania. “He wants them [the Democrats] to win this election so badly.” Trump said if he wins the election, he would call Putin and Zelenskyy and urge them to reach a deal to end the war.
Zelenskyy also held talks in New York with German, Indian and Japanese leaders on Monday trying to shore up support for Kyiv’s war efforts. “We talked about how to make a just peace closer,” Zelenskiy said on his Telegram messaging app after meeting with German chancellor Olaf Scholz. “The main thing is to maintain unity.” He said he had discussed energy aid with Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, and that Delhi and Kyiv were “dynamically developing” their relations after a meeting with prime minister Narendra Modi.
Jails controlled by Russia are deliberately withholding medical care for Ukrainian prisoners, with doctors in one prison even taking part in what it called “torture”, according to a commission mandated by the UN rights council. The commission, set up by the Human Rights Council to investigate violations in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, had already concluded that Moscow’s occupying forces were using torture “systematically”. But in his oral report to the council, commission chair Erik Mose said torture had become a “common and acceptable practice”, with Russian authorities acting with “a sense of impunity”.
Russian forces launched the latest of a series of strikes on Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday evening, killing one person, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said. A city official, quoted by public broadcaster Suspilne, put the injury toll at five, including a 13-year-old girl. Strikes on the city earlier in the day and the previous night wounded at least 23.
Russian forces have begun storming the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a stronghold that has resisted Russian attack since the beginning of the war, according to Russian war bloggers and state media. Russian state media said the hilltop town in the Donetsk region, which some cast as a fortress due to its enduring resistance to Russian attack, was caught in a pincer movement by Russian forces and that battles were under way in the east of the settlement.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it was clear that Russia was receiving new weapons, including Iranian missiles despite Tehran’s repeated denials.
