Closing summary
Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the US on Sunday for a crucial visit to present Kyiv’s plan to end two-and-a-half years of war with Russia. The Ukrainian president will present his proposals – which he calls a “victory plan” – to the US president, Joe Biden, as well as presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. After Washington, he is due to head to New York and the UN for a planned meeting of the security council tomorrow and a speech at the General Assembly on Wednesday.
The Russian foreign ministry said at least 56 civilians were killed and 266 injured during Ukraine’s seven-week-old incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region, covering the period up to 20 September 2024.
Russia has accused Ukrainian forces of holding some civilians against their will in the Russian region of Kursk, including 70-120 people in the town of Sudzha.
Russia appears to have suffered a “catastrophic failure” in a test of its Sarmat missile, a key weapon in the modernisation of its nuclear arsenal, according to experts. Experts have analysed images captured by Maxar on Saturday that show a crater about 60 metres (200 feet) wide at the launch silo at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. They revealed extensive damage that was not visible in pictures taken earlier in the month.
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Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said he sought talks with the west about Russia’s war on Ukraine, as he denied providing missiles to Moscow which he condemned for “aggression” during the conflict.
“We are willing to sit down with the Europeans and the Americans to have a dialogue and negotiations. We have never approved of Russian aggression against Ukrainian territory,” Pezeshkian told reporters as he attended the UN general assembly in New York.
Earlier this month, the US accused Iran of transferring ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, a charge Tehran has denied. Pezeshkian, a reformist who was elected unexpectedly in July, has signalled his government is ready to consider a resumption of talks over its nuclear programmes.
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