Russia, wary of NATO’s eastward expansion, began a military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022 after the Western-leaning Kiev government turned a deaf ear to Moscow’s calls for its neighbor to maintain its neutrality. In the middle of the mayhem, Moscow and Kiev are trying to hammer out a peaceful solution to the conflict. Follow the latest about the Russia-Ukraine conflict here:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Donald Trump to share his peace plans publicly if the former US president has a way to end the war between Ukraine and Russia — but he cautioned that any peace plan under which Kyiv gives up territory would be unacceptable.
“So (if) the idea is how to take the part of our territory and to give (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, that is not the peace formula,” Zelensky told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, following his speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
Trump, during a CNN’s town hall in May, declined to say who should prevail in Russia’s war against Ukraine, instead saying he wanted the bloodshed to end. “And I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”
Pressed Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about whether the deal would let Putin keep the land he’s taken, Trump said, “No, no. I’d make a fair deal for everybody. Nope, I’d make it fair.”
Trump, asked at the time whether it would be a win for Putin, stated, “You know, that’s something that could have been negotiated. Because there were certain parts, Crimea and other parts of the country, that a lot of people expected could happen. You could have made a deal. So they could have made a deal where there’s lesser territory right now than Russia’s already taken, to be honest.”
Zelensky’s trip to the United Nations comes as Ukraine is facing its stiffest headwinds in the US to date over support for the war.
A faction of the House GOP conference is openly hostile to providing Ukraine with any additional military aid, and it remains unclear whether House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will be willing to sign off on more funding.
Zelensky added he’s planning to meet with McCarthy when he travels to Washington, DC, later this week. He is also scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden during his trip.
Asked about those skeptical of offering more funding to Ukraine, Zelensky said that it was difficult for those who have not seen war up close to compare domestic problems like civil rights or energy to the existential threat facing a country under attack.
“It’s so difficult to understand when you are in war, and when you are not in war,” Zelensky continued.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi accused the US of “fanning the flames of violence” in Ukraine.
“Any type of fanning the flames of violence in Ukraine has been done by the United States of America in order to weaken the European countries and this is a long-term plan unfortunately,” Raise said in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
“We support any initiative for a cessation of hostilities in the war and we support any political measure,” he stated, adding, “We fully announce our support for such initiatives.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba reiterated Ukraine’s call for an end to what he described as Russia’s “nuclear blackmail” at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, following a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in New York.
“Russia must end its nuclear blackmail and withdraw from the ZNPP to restore nuclear safety and security in Ukraine and wider Europe,” Kuleba posted on his official X (formerly known as Twitter) account, on Tuesday.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called for more security aid to Ukraine.
In an interview with the Reuters news agency on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Stoltenberg said the conflict was a “war of attrition” but not a stalemate, citing Ukraine’s counteroffensive that began earlier this year.
“If we want an end to the war, if we want a just and lasting peace, then military support to Ukraine is the right way,” the NATO chief added.
“Ukraine needs many different types of support.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of weaponizing the global food supply in its war in Ukraine during his remarks to the United Nations General Assembly.
It is the first time the Ukrainian president has addressed the assembly in person.
He said in addition to ammunition and military equipment, Russia is “weaponizing many other things,” like the supply of food, which is impacting many countries, not just Ukraine.
He stated port cities and infrastructure have been the subject of increasing attacks by Russia.
“It is clear, Russia’s attempt to weaponize the food shortage on the global market in exchange for the recognition for some, if not all, of the captured territories,” Zelensky continued, adding, “Russia is launching the food prices as weapons.”
The president stressed Ukraine is working to establish land routes for Ukrainian food exports and urged leaders to support the initiatives.
Zelensky also accused Russia of committing genocide by abducting thousands of Ukrainian children and indoctrinating them against the country.
“We’re trying to get [the] children back home, but time goes by. What will happen to them? Those children in Russia are told to hate Ukraine, and all ties with their families are broken, and this is clearly a genocide,” he added.
Moscow has denied abducting Ukrainian children, saying that it has simply conducted rescue operations of families trapped in war zones in the east of Ukraine.
Zelensky also stressed that it was Russia that needed to undergo nuclear disarmament after the Cold War, not Ukraine.
“Terrorists have no right to hold nuclear weapons,” he noted.
He urged the world to unite against what he called Russia’s aggression, portraying the invasion of Ukraine as an existential threat to global order akin to nuclear weapons.
“It takes our unity to make sure that aggression will not [happen] in again.”
Zelensky called on the world to push to implement his 10-point peace formula, which calls for Russia’s withdrawal from Ukrainian territories and establishing a special tribunal to prosecute war crimes.
“For the first time in modern history, we have a real chance to end the aggression on the terms of the nation which was attacked,” the Ukrainian president said.
Zelensky has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin is behind the plane crash that killed Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin last month.
“Evil cannot be trusted. Ask Prigozhin – if one bets on Putin’s promises,” Zelensky stated.
Prigozhin, whose mercenary forces fought for Russia in Ukraine, led a short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin weeks before his death.
US military aid and training for Ukrainian forces could be disrupted in the event of a US government shutdown, a Pentagon spokesperson warned on Tuesday.
The Pentagon would still be able to access equipment from its own stockpiles, which is where the majority of equipment sent to Ukraine comes from, in the event of a shutdown, given that the department still has billions of dollars’ worth of funding remaining under the Presidential Drawdown Authority.
But the delivery of that equipment, as well as the ongoing training of Ukrainian forces by the US, “could be impacted by furloughs of personnel and DoD’s suspension” of all activities deemed not essential to US national security in the event of a shutdown, Pentagon spokesperson Chris Sherwood said.
Any impact on US support would come at a sensitive time in the conflict with Ukrainian troops in the midst of a critical counteroffensive against Russia.
Politico first reported on Sherwood’s comments.
A possible shutdown could also impact the delivery and execution of aid provided under another program, known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which has funded the production of key equipment like Abrams tanks and training programs like F-16 pilot instruction.
The US is set to begin delivering 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in the coming weeks and expects to begin providing Ukrainian pilots with F-16-related language training “soon,” Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Charlie Dietz said on Monday.
“Work or delivery of any equipment funded on previous USAI notifications such as F-16 pilot training would continue, but execution could be impacted by furloughs and DoD’s suspension of non-excepted activities,” Sherwood added.
The Pentagon would also not be able to sign any new contracts with defense companies to produce more equipment under USAI in the event of a shutdown.
“The Department has notified all available USAI funding, so no new USAI notifications can occur until additional appropriations are enacted,” Sherwood stated.
The Pentagon issued guidance last week on how the US military will continue to operate in the event of a shutdown, and while missions and functions not deemed critical to US national security will halt, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin can “at any time” make exceptions to that policy.
The US government appears to be barreling toward a shutdown, as Democratic and Republican lawmakers have acknowledged that there will not be enough time before the September 30 deadline for either chamber to pass all 12 appropriations bills.
Instead, the House and Senate will have to find a short-term fix to allow them more time to negotiate, but it is unclear whether they will be able to do that.
South African President Cyril Ramphosa has called for “confidence building” measures to move towards a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.
“We value the importance of engaging all parties to conflicts, to achieve peaceful just and enduring solutions,” he said.
“It is these principles that inform South Africa’s participation in the African Peace Initiative, which seeks a peaceful resolution of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” he stated.
He added that he had met Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said some progress had recently been made, particularly in the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia.
“But then we said we need to see this happening on a much faster pace.”
The Ukrainian military has liberated more than 54% of territory occupied by Russia, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said Tuesday.
Milley credited each Ukrainian advancement and “every inch of reclaimed territory” due to the “bravery the honor and the incredible sacrifice made by the Ukrainian people and their military. Ukraine continues to make deliberate, steady progress in liberating their homeland from Russian occupation.”
“To date, Ukraine has liberated over 54% of Russian occupied Ukraine and they continue to retain the strategic initiative,” Milley stated at a news conference after the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
That 54% of territory is in regard to territory liberated since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Milley’s spokesperson Col. Dave Butler said on Tuesday, including areas around Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has urged his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to push Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and stress to Moscow the importance of respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“We know that President Xi Jinping has significant influence on the world stage, including with Vladimir Putin. I know that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be traveling to Moscow and I hope that he will impress upon Russia the complete inappropriateness of their action,” he said, according to Reuters news agency.
:And I hope that China will call for Russia to withdraw,” he added.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has said Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion is a struggle for the whole world.
“We cannot differentiate the Ukrainian people’s struggle from the struggle for respect for the United Nations Charter,” he added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has called for peace summits to resolve conflicts in Ukraine and between Israel and the Palestinians, so humanity can focus instead on addressing climate change.
Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing leader, is seeking peace and surrender deals in his own country with rebel groups and crime gangs to end a six-decade conflict which has killed at least 450,000 people.
“I propose ending war so we have the time to save ourselves. I propose the United Nations sponsor as soon as possible two peace conferences,” he stated.
“One on Ukraine, the other on Palestine, not because there are not other wars in the world, like in my country, but because it would show how to make peace in all the regions of the world.”
Ukraine should remember the help it gets from Poland, Polish President Andrzej Duda has said amid a deepening tussle between the neighboring countries over agricultural imports.
“It would be good for Ukraine to remember that it receives help from us and to remember that we are also a transit country to Ukraine,” Andrzej Duda told reporters in New York.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated his country will “step up” efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, we have been endeavoring to keep both our Russian and Ukrainian friends around the table with the thesis that war will have no winners and peace will have no losers,” the Turkish president said in his remarks at the UN General Assembly.
“We will step up our efforts to end the war through diplomacy and dialogue on the basis of Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity,” he added.
The UK’s defence department says it will provide “tens of thousands” more artillery shells to Ukraine this year.
“Today we’ve demonstrated the UK’s unwavering commitment to Ukraine and set out more military support, including pledging tens of thousands more artillery shells to enable Ukraine to defend itself,” Defence Minister Grant Shapps stated after a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) in Germany.
“We have also set out how the UK will go further in the coming months in our priority support areas, including air defence and long-range strike capabilities, and training,” Shapps added.
Russia claimed that Ukraine was responsible for the blast in Kostiantynivka, Ukraine on September 6 that killed at least 16 people.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Kyiv had fired a 9M38 missile from a Buk surface-to-air missile system, which hit the busy marketplace.
“Even if it was done unintentionally, it is obvious to everyone: the complete demilitarisation of the Kyiv regime is not just a requirement, but a vital necessity,” Zakharova added.
Earlier on Tuesday, the New York Times reported that evidence suggested a rogue missile fired by Ukraine had caused the explosion.
At a dinner of the G7 foreign ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday night, “there was great concern in the room about what Russia and (North Korea) might be up to together,” a senior State Department official said Tuesday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week traveled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin, and the two held what the Kremlin called “very substantive” discussions.
Their meeting came after US officials warned that Russia and North Korea are “actively advancing” in a potential arms deal that could see Pyongyang provide weapons for Moscow to use in its faltering Ukraine war in exchange for sanctioned ballistic missile technology.
The official declined to say if there was a consensus among the G7 around what Russia would be willing to give North Korea or vice versa, but told reporters Tuesday that the top diplomats were concerned that if the two countries go “in the weapons direction,” it would not only be dangerous for Ukraine but also be “yet another violation of UN principles by Russia.”
During his remarks at the United Nations General Assembly, US President Joe Biden said supporting Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion is “not only investment in Ukraine’s future, but in the future of every country” that values the basic UN rules of sovereignty and territorial integrity “that apply equally to all nations” big and small.
“We strongly support Ukraine in its efforts to bring about diplomatic resolution that delivers just and lasting peace. Russia alone, Russia alone, bears responsibility for this war. Russia alone has the the power to end this war immediately,” Biden stated.
“And it’s Russia alone that stands in the way of the peace. Because Russia’s price for peace is Ukraine’s capitulation, Ukraine’s territory and Ukraine’s children,” Biden added.
The US president stressed Moscow “believes that the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence.”
Biden suggested that no member states of the United Nations would feel secure if Ukraine is allowed “to be carved up.”
“We have to stand up to this naked aggression today, and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow. That’s why the United States, together with our allies and partners around the world, will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity and their freedom,” he continued.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, saying that “no solution will be lasting if it is not based on dialogue”.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Lula said, “I have reiterated that work needs to be done to create space for negotiations.”
He added, “A lot is invested in weapons and very little in development.”
Lula, who has faced accusations in the West of being soft on Russia, is expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky on the summit’s sidelines.
The Brazilian leader has looked to position his country as a potential mediator in the conflict, along with other “neutral” countries, including China, India and Indonesia.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine have indicated meaningful gains or losses over the past few days, with much of the front line — from Kharkiv in the north to Zaporizhzhia in the south — at a virtual stalemate, and gains measured in hundreds of meters rather than kilometers.
Melitopol: There are reports of explosions in the Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine.
Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor of the city, stated that local residents reported more than five explosions. There’s been no comment from Russian-appointed officials in the area, but the Russian military blogger Rybar said that four Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles were shot down by Russian air defense forces — one over the Henichesk district and three over Melitopol.
Molochansk: This southern town had also come under fire on Tuesday morning from Ukrainian missiles, said Vladimir Rogov, member of the Russian-installed Zaporizhzhia military-civilian administration.
Several buildings had been damaged or destroyed, he wrote on Telegram.
Robotyne: Russian reconnaissance had uncovered the movement of Ukrainian units near this village on the southern front lines, and destroyed them, according to Yevgeniy Balitskiy, the Russian appointed acting governor of occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia.
Russian blogger War Gonzo said there was fierce counter fighting on the western outskirts of Robotyne village, where Russian forces were trying to cut the flank of Ukrainian units, “while the AFU [Ukrainian army] is trying to expand the bridgehead for an offensive to the south.”
Novoprokopivka and Verbove: A unit of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic said the Russian Army was holding back Ukrainian forces near these two villages that have been fought over for several weeks.
Russian military blogger Voenkor Lisitsin stated Ukraine “is trying to probe the Russian defense in small groups with the support of armored vehicles, but our fighters neutralize all attempts of the enemy to break through with the help of artillery.”
Bakhmut: Russian bloggers said that the situation had stabilized after Ukrainian gains in the south of the city.
“Most of Klishchiivka and Andriivka are in the gray zone,” he claimed.
The Ukrainians say they now are in control of both settlements.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is heading to the United States to ask the West for money and new weapons, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
“Another Zelensky tour is expected in the near future. He is now heading to the United States. The media reports that his meeting with [US President Joe] Biden is planned, meetings in Congress are expected,” the diplomat stated at a briefing.
“It is obvious that the Kiev addict, a beggar in every sense of the word, will once again beg his American masters for money and, accordingly, weapons,” she added.
It was reported earlier that Zelensky arrived in the United States to participate in the high-level week of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. He is also scheduled to meet with the leadership of the United States and a number of other countries.
Ukrainian official slams the New York Times investigation as part of a growing “conspiracy theory”, after the newspaper found that a missile from Kyiv was responsible for the blast in Kostiantynivka on September 6.
On X, formally known as Twitter, Mikhalio Podolyak said, “No doubt, the appearance of publications in foreign media with doubts about Russia’s involvement in the attack on Kostiantynivka entails the growth of conspiracy theories, and therefore requires examination and legal assessment by the investigative authorities. The society will surely receive an answer to the question of what exactly happened in Kostiantynivka.”
Podolyak added that the circumstances behind the blast are being studied, and the “legal truth will be established”.
“In the meantime, we must not forget: it was Russia that launched the invasion of Ukraine, and it is Russia that is responsible for bringing war to our country,” he continued.
Ukraine’s months-long counteroffensive is making steady forward progress, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated.
“Brave Ukrainian troops are breaking through the heavily fortified lines of Russia’s army of aggression,” Austin said at Tuesday’s gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a bloc of 54 countries who are providing military support to Kyiv.
Austin pressed other representatives at the meeting, which is taking place at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, to continue offering Ukraine security assistance. He added that Ukraine’s battlefield gains “hinge on the crucial capabilities provided by the members of this contact group.”
More than $76 billion in direct security assistance has been given to Ukraine so far, Austin said. However, he added that Ukraine is in further need of air defense systems.
“Air defense is saving lives. So I urge this group to continue to dig deep on ground-based air defense for Ukraine,” he continued, stating, “Our shared commitment will be vital during the current battles — and for the long road ahead.”
Austin said that Russian attacks on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure are directly threatening global food security.
Moscow has been targeting Ukrainian infrastructure since July, when it pulled out of a deal that allowed Ukrainian ships to bypass a Russian blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports and navigate safe passage through the waterway to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait in order to reach global markets.
Austin alleged that the Kremlin has destroyed “at least 280,000 tons of grain. That’s enough to feed as many as 10.5 million people for a year.”
“The more Russia prolongs its war, the more glaring its cruelty becomes. Russia’s assaults have reached far beyond the battlefield and inflicted untold human suffering,” Austin continued, adding, “History will show the full folly of Putin’s reckless, cruel, and unprovoked invasion of his peaceful neighbor.”
Denmark will donate an additional 45 tanks to Ukraine, including 15 modernized T-72 tanks and 30 Leopard 1 tanks, the country’s defense ministry told CNN on Tuesday. Copenhagen is also sending Kyiv additional arms, ammunition and mine-clearing equipment.
The donation is part of a joint initiative between the defense ministries of Denmark, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, which “share the understanding that the continued provision of materiel from industry stocks and production would be of vital importance for the military capabilities of Ukraine,” according to a joint statement.
Meanwhile, Norway is also set to donate about 50 tracked cargo carriers to Ukraine, its government announced Tuesday. This type of vehicle is able to maneuver in terrain inaccessible for wheeled vehicles.
“The cargo carriers can transport ammunition, food and water to Ukrainian troops in the field,” the Norwegian government said.
Norway has previously donated “a wide range of capacities to Ukraine,” including ground-based air defense systems and battle tanks. It’s also among the nations providing F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry says Russia should cease moves to expand military cooperation with Pyongyang.
Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin summoned Russia’s ambassador in Seoul to urge “Russia to immediately halt any moves to expand military cooperation with North Korea and to abide by [UN] Security Council Resolutions,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Chang added Seoul will coordinate with the international community to respond to any actions that threaten its security.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin last week raised concerns that the two countries could trade artillery and rockets, which Russia could use on Ukraine.
A warehouse worker was killed and more than 300 metric tons of humanitarian supplies were destroyed during a Russian drone attack on Lviv early Tuesday, the western Ukrainian city’s mayor stated.
Speaking at the scene of an extensive fire caused by the assault, Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said a warehouse belonging to NGO Caritas-Spes was hit, resulting in the death of a worker and the destruction of humanitarian supplies.
“The warehouse contained about 300 tonnes of humanitarian goods and humanitarian vehicles,” he said, adding, “Unfortunately, a dead man who worked here was found under the rubble.”
The supplies were worth millions of dollars, Sadovyi said.
“I have just spoken to the head of Caritas, they had just received humanitarian aid — warm clothes, shoes, generators to send from Lviv to other parts of Ukraine. Now it’s all on fire. A lot of food and light industry products are burning,” Sadovyi continued, adding, “The damage is measured not even in tens, I think it will be hundreds of millions [of hryvnia.]
Earlier, Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv regional military administration, said Ukraine shot down down 15 Russian drones heading toward the city, but three drones evaded air defenses and hit the warehouses.
The resulting fire affected an area of 9,000 square meters (nearly 97,000 square feet), Kozytskyi stated, adding, “I want to emphasize that these are ordinary industrial warehouses. Nothing military was stored there.”
At least two people were injured in the attack, Kozytskyi continued.
Russian attack drones struck warehouses in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Tuesday, sparking a huge fire and injuring two people, a local official said.
In a Telegram post, Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv regional military administration, stated Ukraine shot down down 15 Russian drones heading toward the city, but three drones evaded air defenses and hit the warehouses.
The resulting fire affected an area of 9,000 square meters (nearly 97,000 square feet), Kozytskyi continued, adding, “I want to emphasize that these are ordinary industrial warehouses. Nothing military was stored there.”
A 26-year-old man who was injured is in “moderate condition,” Kozytskyi said.
“There was also a woman at the scene who did not need hospitalization,” he added.
The assault on Lviv comes as the Ukrainian Air Force said it destroyed 27 of 30 Russian attack drones launched Tuesday. Russia additionally fired one ballistic missile in the direction of the city of Kryvyi Rih and Ukraine also destroyed a reconnaissance drone, the Air Force said.
A new investigation by The New York Times (NYT) found that an explosion at a market in the Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka on September 6 was caused by a missile fired by Kyiv.
At the time, Ukraine said the blast, which killed at least 16 people, was caused by a Russian missile.
“Evidence collected and analysed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defence missile fired by a Buk launch system,” the newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Citing air defence experts, the daily found that missiles like the one that hit Kostiantynivka can go off course for a variety of reasons, including an electronic malfunction.
It added security camera footage showed the missile flew into Kostiantynivka from the direction of Ukrainian-held territory, not from behind Russian lines.
President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has arrived in New York in advance of his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly and meetings in Washington, DC.
In a post on Telegram, the Ukrainian president stated he has already visited Ukrainian servicemen being treated for war injuries in the United States.
He added his schedule included talks with US President Joe Biden, members of Congress and military and business officials.
Ukraine’s Commander of Land Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, released a video hailing the soldiers who recaptured the villages of Klishchiivka and Andriivka near the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, saying their advance had succeeded in breaking a Russian defensive line.
“I am on the front line with our soldiers who are holding the line and continuing to move forward. I thanked them for their steady advance and the liberation of Klishchiivka and Andriivka from the occupiers,” Syrskyi stated in a video posted on Telegram on Monday.
“As a result of the successful actions of our troops, the enemy’s defense line was broken, which it tried to close by throwing all available reserves into the battle,” Syrskyi wrote on Telegram in a separate post, adding that Russian forces had not given up trying to recapture the lost territory, conducting “numerous counterattacks from different directions.”
He cautioned more widely that the “overall situation in the eastern sector remains difficult.”
“The enemy does not abandon its intentions to resume offensive actions in the Kupiansk and Lyman directions,” he stated, referencing two towns both held by Russia for six months before being liberated by Ukraine almost exactly a year ago.
Moscow has denounced EU restrictions imposed on Russian citizens entering the bloc, including a ban on bringing some personal items, as “absurd” and aimed at harming ordinary Russians.
Moscow’s foreign ministry said the rules “go beyond the point of absurdity” and were aimed at “causing harm specifically to ordinary Russians and at making it impossible for Russian citizens to enter the European Union”.
It accused the bloc of trying to build a “new Iron Curtain” and warned Russians to weigh the “risks” before travelling there.
“The desperate desire of the current EU leadership to erect a new Iron Curtain in Europe is now completely obvious, limiting as much as possible the possibilities of communication between people,” it added.
Travel from Russia to the West has become far more difficult since Moscow launched its offensive on Ukraine.
Germany will provide Ukraine with an additional 400 million euros ($427 million) worth of weapons and aid, according to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
“We are supplying additional ammunition: explosive ammunition, mortar ammunition, mine rockets,” he said in an interview with prominent German newspaper BILD, published Monday.
“But we also have our eye on the approaching winter: We will send clothing, but also electricity and heat generators. In total, the package will be worth 400 million euros,” Pistorius added.
The package will not include long-range Taurus missiles, the minister said, as the government has not yet decided whether to send them to Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials had urged Germany to provide them with the Taurus weapons for the country’s self-defense. Germany, however, is hesitant about delivering long-range cruise missiles fearing they could be used for attacks on Russian territory.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company is preparing for winter, anticipating that Russia will attack the country’s energy infrastructure as power needs spike during extremely difficult cold weather, its CEO said Monday.
Ukrainian military intelligence has indicated Russia is preparing for winter attacks on energy infrastructure again, DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko.
“They are stockpiling missiles for it,” he told CNN on his visit to New York ahead of this week’s UN General Assembly session.
To prepare for these anticipated attacks, Ukraine needs air defense to protect all power stations, Timchenko said. Without it, all infrastructure restoration and protection in place will be of no use.
He acknowledged that while a Patriot Missile System at every power station was the ideal, it was unlikely to happen. So he hopes that Ukraine can have these air defense systems protecting a larger area which includes the stations.
Russia has strategically shelled Ukraine’s power infrastructure, temporarily but repeatedly cutting off electricity, heat and water to millions. This campaign left Ukraine’s energy grid teetering on the brink of collapse, forcing constant repair work which involved scouring the world to find compatible parts.
DTEK’s infrastructure has also come under fire. Five of its thermal power turbines were destroyed considerably since the war began. Two of them were restored, Timchenko told CNN, adding that two others will be restored in 2024. However, one was attacked and destroyed beyond restoration, he said.
The answer to preventing this damage, Timchenko says, lies in building renewable energy infrastructure because it’s harder to destroy.
A thermal power generation system producing 200 megawatt of power, for example, requires a big turbine and one boiler to burn coal and gas. “It’s usually the size of a room. If it’s hit by a missile, then it’s all destroyed in one moment,” he explained, adding that depending on the level of damage, it could take a month or a year to restore.
“The same capacity of 300 megawatt, if it’s wind, you build 15 turbines 100 meters from each other. If you destroy one, the others still operate.”
The company is working on building a 500-megawatt wind power plant to boost the country’s energy sector following Russian air strikes.
The launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 had suspended the project that had been underway for seven months prior, because it was about 100 kilometers (or about 62 miles) from the front lines. But in May 2022, officials decided it was time to continue to the project despite Russian missiles flying overhead, and construction began in August 2022.
“It is a good indication of the bravery and courage of the Ukrainian people, but also that investment can be made in Ukraine even during war,” Timchenko stated.
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