Closing summary
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war live blog today. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, made a defiant address at the UN general assembly in New York on Wednesday, accusing Russia of plotting potentially catastrophic attacks on Ukrainian nuclear plants and taking aim at China and Brazil for proposing an alternative to his own peace formula. “You will not boost your power at Ukraine’s expense,” Zelenskyy warned.
Zelenskyy will head to the White House on Thursday to see Joe Biden, the US president, and present what he describes as a “victory plan”. Zelenskyy is also expected to meet with the US presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The Ukrainian leader has been seeking permission to use British-French-made Storm Shadow missiles on Russian territory, with UK support, but negotiations with the US are still continuing as the weapons use some US technology.
Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, told Russia he does not know how it can show its face at the United Nations after invading Ukraine and treating its own citizens as “bits of meat to fling into the grinder”. Starmer, addressing the UN security council on Wednesday, accused Russia of violating the UN charter because its invasion of Ukraine was illegal, threatened global security and had caused “colossal human suffering”.
Starmer was pressed on whether a decision would be made about the use of UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles within Russia. The UK prime minister said: “We will have discussions about a whole range of issues, and we will listen carefully to what President Zelenskyy’s got to say, and that’s what’s going to happen in the next few days.” He added the discussions would not be about the “sole issue like long-range missiles” but a “strategic, overarching route for Ukraine to find a way through this and succeed against Russian aggression”.
The Kremlin called a plan by Zelenskyy to force Russia to make peace a fatal mistake that would have consequences for Kyiv. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia wanted peace, but that it was impossible to force the issue.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, met with Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart, on the sidelines of the UN general assembly. The pair discussed “prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis” and measures to counter “the West’s escalation of the situation in the Asia-Pacific Region”, according to a readout of the meeting by Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency.
Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, blasted China for supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine. Frederiksen, in an interview on Wednesday, said Russia would not be able to continue its full-scale war “without help from China”, adding: “We cannot continue a situation where China helps Russia in a war … in Europe, without consequences. They have to be held responsible for their activities.”
Russia’s troops have not reached the outskirts of Ukraine’s eastern town of Vuhledar, but its reconnaissance groups are operating there, said Vadym Filashkin, the governor of Donetsk region, on Wednesday. Russia said it had captured two more villages in Ukraine, though this has not been confirmed, and was attacking Vuhledar, a longtime Ukrainian stronghold.
Two people were killed and 12 others injured after a Russian guided-bomb strike on Ukraine’s eastern city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday, the Donetsk regional governor said. Russian troops used three highly destructive bombs in the attack on the town’s centre that damaged two apartment blocks, shops and cars, he said.
An 80-year-old woman died as a result of Russian shelling in Kherson, Alexander Prokudin, the head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram. “As a result of another shelling, two people who were on the street were injured,” he added.
Ukrainian forces captured about 24 Russian soldiers and killed “several dozen” others during an operation to recapture an aggregate plant in the town of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region, according to Ukrainian reports.
Nato plans to coordinate the transport of a large number of wounded troops away from frontlines in case of a war with Russia, potentially via hospital trains as air evacuations may not be feasible, according to a senior general.
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Russian and Chinese foreign ministers discuss 'prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis' at UN
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, met with Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart, on Wednesday while on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.
The pair discussed “prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis” and measures to counter “the West’s escalation of the situation in the Asia-Pacific Region”, according to a readout of the meeting by Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency.
A statement from the Russian foreign ministry reads:
A thorough exchange of views was held on global and Eurasian security, including the Ukrainian crisis, measures to counter the West’s escalation in the Asia-Pacific Region and around Taiwan, as well as on a number of other regional issues.
The meeting was held “in a traditionally trusting and constructive manner, characteristic of Russian-Chinese strategic partnership”, the Russian ministry said.
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Keir Starmer’s trip to the United Nations general assembly in New York is his third trip to the US in three months.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, is also attending to present his “victory plan” to Joe Biden and the US presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
Zelenskyy has been seeking permission to use British-French-made Storm Shadow missiles on Russian territory, with UK support, but negotiations with the US are still continuing as the weapons use some US technology.
Pressed on when a decision would be made about the use of UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles within Russia, Starmer said:
We will have discussions about a whole range of issues, and we will listen carefully to what President Zelenskyy’s got to say, and that’s what’s going to happen in the next few days.
He added the discussions would not be about the “sole issue like long-range missiles” but a “strategic, overarching route for Ukraine to find a way through this and succeed against Russian aggression”.
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UK's Starmer says he wonders ‘how Russia can show its face in this building’ as it wages war on Ukraine
Starmer, addressing the UN’s security council meeting, says members must ensure accountability for those violating the UN charter.
The greatest violation of the charter in a generation has been committed by one of his council’s permanent members – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is illegal. It threatens global security, it’s caused colossal human suffering.
The UK prime minister says he wonders “how Russia can show its face in this building” of the UN and accuses Moscow of “treating your own citizens as bits of meat to fling into the grinder”.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has triggered a global energy crisis and a global food crisis, he says, and “now the world looks on” as Moscow deepens its military ties with North Korea and Iran. Starmer says:
There can be no equivocation. They must be held accountable. Aggression cannot pay. Borders cannot be redrawed by force. Russia started this illegal war. It must end it and get out of Ukraine.
Starmer says the UK stands with the 89 countries who have made clear that Ukraine’s territorial integrity “must be the basis of any just and lasting peace”.
He says that any process that does not recognise this fact will only be used as a pretext by Russia to “regroup and come again”.
In this moment of deepening conflict, the world looks to this council more than ever to provide leadership for peace, preserve our collective security and protect the most vulnerable. The United Kingdom will always play its full part in fulfilling that responsibility.
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Starmer calls on the UN security council to seek political solutions “that can break repeated cycles of violence” such as in the Middle East, a region he describes as being “on the brink”.
The UK leader says there needs to be an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, and the implementation of a plan that allows Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return to their homes safely.
“That security will come through diplomacy, not escalation,” Starmer says.
There is no military solution here, nor is there a military-only solution to the conflict in Gaza.
Starmer says the security council must demand an “immediate, full and complete” ceasefire in Gaza with the release of all the hostages.
He calls for a “political route” to that agreement that “provides a bridge to a better future, a credible and irreversible path towards a viable Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure state of Israel”.
On the war in Sudan, Starmer repeats his call for both parties to commit to a ceasefire and says he supports the UN secretary general’s envoy in his efforts towards peace.
We must keep working to bring this war to an end, and we must ensure that those responsible for committing atrocities are held accountable.
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Starmer, addressing the UN’s security council, urges international consensus on delivering humanitarian support. “This should be a bare minimum, yet too often we’re falling short,” he says.
The UK leader says the council must address the situation in Gaza. “Let the hostages go,” he says.
We must face up to humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that continues to deepen by the day. Israel must grant humanitarian access to civilians in line with its obligations under international humanitarian law. There can be no more excuses.
Starmer says Israel must open more crossings to allow vital life-saving aid to flow into Gaza, and to provide a safe environment for the UN and other humanitarian organisations to operate to relieve the civilian suffering in Gaza.
The UK has restarted funding to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, and is supporting Unicef to deliver water, healthcare and specialist treatment for malnourished children, he says.
The situation in Sudan also demands “urgent attention”, Starmer says.
Millions are facing emergency or famine conditions exacerbated by deliberate attempts to prevent aid reaching those in need. This is now the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, and the worst displacement crisis, with over 10 million people driven from their homes.
He says the UK has doubled its aid for the victims of the war but “much more is needed”, adding: “The world must step in.”
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Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, is addressing the UN security council meeting where he began by paying tribute to those “who see these terrible conflicts and walk towards them with no agenda other than helping those in need”.
The UN and International Committee of the Red Cross have lost staff this month in Gaza, Lebanon and Donetsk, Starmer says, adding that more than 200 aid workers have been killed so far this year, including British citizens.
The UN’s security council must “deliver its responsibility for global peace and security”, Starmer says, noting that he will use his speech today to call to action in three key areas.
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Here’s more on the Russian strike on Ukraine’s eastern city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region that killed two people and injured 12 others, including three children.
Journalists with Agence France-Presse at the scene of the strike saw what appeared to be two separate hits around a kilometre (0.6 miles) apart, both in residential areas.
Thick plumes of smoke were billowing from a partially destroyed 10-storey block of flats, the agency said. The strike also destroyed a five-storey apartment block and nearby restaurants.
A local resident, Tatyana Rybakova, said she had “crawled away from the window” after a loud bang, as she pointed to the place where her flat used to be in one of the destroyed buildings. She said:
I understand I have been left without a home: that I do understand.
Another resident, Lyudmyla Shalayeva, said she was cleaning her flat when she saw an explosion and barely had time to shelter in her hall. She said:
We’re scared every day. But we didn’t expect any shelling right here at us ... Who can expect that?
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Two killed, 12 injured by Russian guided bombs in east Ukraine
A Russian guided-bomb strike on Ukraine’s eastern city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday killed at least two people and injured 12 more, including three children, according to Vadym Filashkin, the Donetsk region governor.
Russian troops used three highly destructive bombs in the attack on the town’s centre that damaged two apartment blocks, shops and cars, Filashkin posted to Telegram, according to Reuters. He wrote:
This is another war crime of the Russians and another sad reminder that there are no absolutely safe places left in the Donetsk region.
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Ukraine foreign minister says there are 'no alternatives' to Zelenskyy's peace plan
Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, has posted to X to say that “there are no alternatives” to the peace formula put forward by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He added that Zelenksyy, in his address to the UN general assembly today, “drew the world’s attention to the threats of Russian aggression and the need of unity, not division”.
There are no alternatives to comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in accordance with the Peace Formula, which is based on the UN Charter. In his speech at #UNGA79, @ZelenskyyUa drew the world’s attention to the threats of Russian aggression and the need of unity, not division. pic.twitter.com/tpm3MI8lIg
— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) September 25, 2024
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Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has blasted China for supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine and said Moscow would not be able to continue its aggression without help from Beijing.
Frederiksen, in an interview with Politico on Wednesday, name-checked China as part of a group of four countries including Russia, North Korea and Iran, whose close cooperation “has huge global consequences”. She said:
I don’t think it would be possible for Russia to have a full-scale war for more than two-and-a-half years now without help from China. We cannot continue a situation where China helps Russia in a war … in Europe, without consequences. They have to be held responsible for their activities.
She added that the consequences for Beijing must be political, and warned that “we cannot allow ourselves to be naïve”.
You cannot on the one hand let Russia attack another European country and continue like nothing has happened.
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Zelenskyy says the world must restore nuclear safety and for energy to stop being used as a weapon. He says food security must be ensured and that all the captured Ukrainian soldiers and civilians must be returned home.
The Ukrainian president says the UN charter must be upheld to guarantee his country’s right to territorial integrity and sovereignty. Russian occupiers must withdraw and “we must hold those responsible for war crimes accountable,” he says.
We need to make it clear the war is over. This is the peace formula.
Concluding his address to the UN general assembly, Zelenskyy says:
I want peace for my people, real peace and just peace, and I am asking for your support from all nations of the world. We do not divide the world. I ask the same of you. Do not divide the world. Be united nations, and that will bring us peace.
Zelenskyy calls for 'real peace' in UN speech criticising plans that ‘ignore suffering of Ukrainians’
Zelenskyy says that nearly 100 nations and international organisations have supported the peace formula that he has proposed, including countries that have “gone through wars themselves, and those accustomed to peace are all were equal”.
The Ukrainian president says he has met with leaders from across the world during this UN general assembly summit, and that they all “share the same understanding”. “It must be a real, just peace,” Zelenskyy says.
He says that unfortunately it is “impossible” to resolve matters of war at the UN because too much depends in the UN’s security council on member’s veto power.
When the aggressor exercises veto power, the UN is powerless to stop the war. But the peace formula … there is no veto power in it. That’s why it’s the best opportunity for peace.
Zelenskyy says other proposals put forward by other countries not only “ignore the interests and suffering of Ukrainians who are affected by the war the most” but that they also ignore reality and give Vladimir Putin the “political space to continue the war”.
He says “maybe somebody wants a Nobel Prize instead of real peace” for parallel or alternative attempts to put forward settlement plans, “but the only prizes Putin will give you in return are more suffering and disasters.”
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Zelenskyy says 'there can be no just peace without Ukraine'
Zelenskyy says it is the Ukrainian people who are suffering the consequences of Russia’s war – it is Ukrainian children who are “learning to distinguish the sounds of different types of artillery and drone”.
It is the Ukrainian people who are forcefully separated because Vladimir Putin “decided he could do whatever he wants”.
He says that every world leader who supports Ukraine understands how Russia wants more territory, “which is insane”, and is working to seize more land “while wanting to destroy its neighbour”. Zelenskyy says:
That’s why we say there can be no just peace without Ukraine.
Zelenskyy says every neighbour country of Russia in Europe and central Asia knows that “the war will come to them as well”.
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Zelenskyy says Putin plans to attack Ukraine's nuclear power plants
Zelenskyy says the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, is looking for ways to “break the Ukrainian spirit”, including by targeting his country’s energy infrastructure with deliberate Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power plants and entire energy grid.
Russia has destroyed all our thermal power plants and a large part of our hydroelectric capacity. This is how Putin is preparing for winter, hoping to torment millions of Ukrainians … Putin wants to leave them in the dark and [force] Ukraine to suffer and surrender.
The Ukrainian president says he has recently received a report that Putin plans to attack the country’s nuclear power plants and infrastructure.
Zelenskyy warns that any missile or drone strike or any critical incident in Ukraine’s energy system could lead to a “nuclear disaster”, adding:
A day like that must never come … These are nuclear power plants. They must be safe.
He adds that if “God forbid, Russia causes a nuclear disaster at one of our nuclear power plants, radiation will not respect state borders.”
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Zelenskyy begins addressing UN general assembly
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has begun his address to the UN general assembly in New York. He begins by speaking about the day Russian tanks fired directly at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The Russian army stormed the plant “brutally” and without thinking about the potentially “disastrous” consequences. It was “one of the most horrifying moments of the war”, Zelenskyy says.
Zelenskyy says this is why nuclear safety plays a key part of the peace formula that he presented. “Most in the world understand what’s at stake,” he says.
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Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, who will be stepping down from his role on 1 October, has posted on X about his meeting with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy (see 12.02pm BST).
Calling Zelenskyy his “good friend”, Stoltenberg said they agreed that “Ukraine’s future is in Nato”. Stoltenberg added:
We will continue to work together to bring that day closer, and to help Ukraine prevail in its fight for freedom.”
Important meeting with my good friend President @ZelenskyyUa at #UNGA in New York. We agree that #Ukraine’s future is in #NATO. We will continue to work together to bring that day closer, and to help Ukraine prevail in its fight for freedom. pic.twitter.com/bKUwMUdtcg
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) September 25, 2024
Volodymyr Zelenskyy set to address UN general assembly
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is shortly due to address the UN general assembly. He is expected to seek support for Ukraine in the war against Russia, and to present his “victory plan” – a roadmap for Ukraine to end the war with greater western backing.
In a forceful speech to the UN security council on Tuesday, Zelenskyy called on a broad alliance of nations to “force Russia into peace”, saying that Vladimir Putin has violated the foundations of the UN and that the war “can’t be conquered by talks” alone.
Zelenskyy accused Moscow of committing “international crimes” by targeting Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure, and claimed he had proof that Putin is plotting to target three Ukrainian nuclear power plants to further degrade the country’s energy grid.
In his speech, he added that further pressure was needed to conclude peace with Russia after it had been “doing things that cannot possibly be justified under the UN charter”.
He has repeatedly called on the US and UK to drop their restrictions on the use of long-range missiles against targets deep inside Russia, despite concerns in the Biden administration that those attacks could lead to further escalation of the war.
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At the UN general assembly in New York, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will be pushing for a deal on the use of Storm Shadow missiles against Russia, supported by the UK.
Asked about Zelenskyy’s prospects of success, UK prime minister Keir Starmer told reporters it was “at a critical stage”.
Starmer said:
Obviously, President Zelensky has a plan that he wants to walk through with all of us … The support for Ukraine is resolute. We supply quite a lot of capability already under the last government; we’ve increased that under this government – that’s not a criticism of the last government – and we will always listen very carefully to what Ukraine says it needs by way of capability.”
He said the long-range Storm Shadow missiles would not be the sole issue under discussion but it would also be about “the strategic overarching route for Ukraine to find a way through this and succeed against Russian aggression”.
Starmer’s trip is taking place as negotiations continue with the White House to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons on Russian territory. David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, argued this week it was time for “nerve and guts” to allow a change of policy.
But Starmer’s visit to Washington to see the US president, Joe Biden, earlier this month did not resolve sticking points over the use of the British and French-made weapons, which also rely on US technology.
Even if a breakthrough is made on the talks this week, it is unlikely any decisions on the missiles will be announced at this week’s summit.
The Kyiv Independent reports that a member of Ukraine’s military intelligence has claimed that Ukrainian forces captured about 24 Russian soldiers and killed “several dozen” others during an operation to recapture an aggregate plant in the town of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region.
According to the publication, a special forces officer “with the call sign Viking” revealed details of the operation on national television on Wednesday. The officer added that a further four Russian soldiers “tried to leave the plant and were neutralized outside the perimeter”.
“The battle lasted a little over a week. There was intense shelling from the enemy. The enemy at the factory put up a lot of resistance, but in the end we completed the task,” the Kyiv Independent reported the officer as saying.
We reported earlier that Russia’s troops had not reached the outskirts of Ukraine’s eastern town of Vuhledar but its reconnaissance groups are operating there.
Russia said on Wednesday it had captured two more villages in Ukraine, though this has not been confirmed, and was attacking Vuhledar, a longtime Ukrainian stronghold.
Vuhledar is a fortified mining town that has anchored Ukrainian defences in the southern Donetsk region since the start of the war in 2022.
Asked about the attack on Vuhledar, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The dynamic is positive.”
Reuters reported that analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Russia appeared to be intensifying a push on Vuhledar but its capture would not substantially alter Moscow’s prospects for further advances, as it already controlled most of the main roads running into the town.
Russian emergency services said that a Ukrainian drone had dropped a munition on the territory of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on Wednesday though there was no damage according to report from Russian state news agency RIA carried by Reuters. Reuters and the Guardian have not been able to confirm this report.
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, has been controlled by Russian forces since March 2022, and remains close to the frontline between the two sides.
An 80-year-old woman has died as a result of Russian shelling in Kherson, the head of the regional military administration, Alexander Prokudin said on Telegram.
“As a result of another shelling, two people who were on the street were injured. An 80-year-old woman was fatally wounded,” he wrote.
Russia has not commented on this and the Guardian has not been able to verify this news from the battlefield.
Nato plans for large-scale transport of wounded troops in case of Russia war - Reuters
Nato plans to coordinate the transport of a large number of wounded troops away from frontlines in case of a war with Russia, potentially via hospital trains as air evacuations may not be feasible, according to a senior general.
The future scenario for medical evacuations will differ from allies’ experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lt Gen Alexander Sollfrank, the head of Nato’s logistics command, told Reuters in an interview.
In a conflict with Russia, western militaries would likely be faced with a much larger war zone, a higher number of injured troops and at least a temporary lack of air superiority close to the frontlines, the German general said.
“The challenge will be to swiftly ensure high-quality care for, in the worst case, a great number of wounded,” he said without specifying how many injured troops Nato would expect, reports Reuters.
The planning for medical evacuations is part of a much broader drive by Nato, prompted by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, to overhaul and boost its ability to deter and defend against any Russian assault.
The German military has said it expects Russia to be able to attack a Nato country as soon as 2029, while Russian president Vladimir Putin casts the west as the aggressor for arming Ukraine.
Sollfrank runs Nato’s Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC), tasked with coordinating the swift movement of troops and tanks across Europe as well as logistical preparations such as the storage of munitions on Nato’s eastern flank.
Recently, reports Reuters, JSEC – which is based in the southern German town of Ulm – staged an exercise in coordination of patient flows.
Should a conflict with Russia arise, wounded troops will not only need to be transported over a larger distance than in other wars of recent years, Sollfrank said. Russian air defences and jets would threaten medical evacuation flights in a way that insurgents in Afghanistan or Iraq could not, likely creating a need for hospital trains that can transport more casualties at the same time than aircraft.
“Air superiority will have to be achieved in the first place. It will require time to succeed over the entire length and depth of the frontline,” Sollfrank told Reuters.
He added:
For planning reasons, all options to take a great number of wounded to medical installations need to be considered, which includes trains but potentially also buses.”
Differing medical regulations between countries are another hurdle to overcome, Sollfrank said. A “military medical Schengen”, akin to the political Schengen zone that allows free movement within most of the EU, could be a solution. It could entail an area of free passage for sensitive medications such as narcotics or strong painkillers, which would be needed to treat wounded troops but whose cross-border transport is regulated.
Russian troops have not reached Ukraine's Vuhledar outskirts, governor says
Russia’s troops have not reached the outskirts of Ukraine’s eastern town of Vuhledar but its reconnaissance groups are operating there, said the governor of Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin, on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
“Our defenders are trying to knock them out. The town has not been captured,” he said in televised comments.
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has posted on his X account about a meeting with the outgoing Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg at the UN general assembly.
Zelenskyy wrote:
I thanked him [Stoltenberg] for supporting Ukraine throughout his tenure as secretary general of the alliance and for his efforts to unite the world in helping Ukraine and strengthening our army.
We discussed the need to enhance Ukraine’s air defence, the continued efforts on an invitation for our state to join Nato as soon as possible, and the importance of the timely implementation of all agreements reached at the alliance’s Washington summit.”
During my meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg @jensstoltenberg, I thanked him for supporting Ukraine throughout his tenure as Secretary General of the Alliance and for his efforts to unite the world in helping Ukraine and strengthening our army.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 25, 2024
We discussed the… pic.twitter.com/Gyq4V6WHmX
The Ukrainian president also shared posts of meetings with other notable figures, including the president of Vietnam, Tô Lâm, Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
I had a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau where we discussed the implementation of the Peace Formula, military support for Ukraine, the situation on the battlefield, and the needs of our defenders.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 25, 2024
We deeply appreciate Canada’s military and humanitarian… pic.twitter.com/a4eW6HypUb
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On the previous post (see 11.10am BST), Reuters has some additional background and quotes.
The Russian parliament’s said its initial backing to legislation that would ban nationals from countries that allow people to change their gender from adopting Russian children, is a move that is essential to uphold “traditional values”.
Russia itself last year introduced a ban on people legally or medically changing their gender, part of a widening crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights.
The adoption legislation, which had already been conceptually approved by the government, on Wednesday won the backing of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in the first of three readings.
According to Reuters, the law’s authors cast it as a measure aimed at protecting adopted Russian children from what they describe as potentially dangerous conditions in countries that belong to the Nato military alliance, which backs Ukraine in the war against Russia.
“This decision is aimed at protecting childhood and traditional values,” Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Duma and a close ally of president Vladimir Putin said after it had been voted on.
Volodin added:
It is necessary to protect our children from the dangers they may face when they are adopted or fostered by citizens of foreign countries where gender reassignment is allowed.”
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Russia’s parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of a bill to ban the adoption of Russian children in countries where gender reassignment is legal, in another ultra-conservative social measure as its troops fight in Ukraine, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Lawmakers voted almost unanimously to back the proposed law in a first reading, with 397 in favour and one against.
“With this law we are protecting the child, we are doing everything for the child not to end up in a country where same-sex marriage and sex change is allowed,” Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.
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There is some more detail on Reuters about the Kremlin calling a plan by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to force Russia to make peace a “fatal mistake” (see 10.08am BST).
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said:
Such a position is a fatal mistake, a systemic mistake. This is a profound misconception that will inevitably have consequences for the Kyiv regime.”
Peskov said that Russia wants peace, but the issue cannot be forced, adding:
A position based on an attempt to force Russia into peace is an absolutely fatal mistake, because it is impossible to force Russia into peace.
Russia is a supporter of peace, but on the condition that the foundations of its security are ensured.”
Putin said in June that Russia would end the war in Ukraine only if Kyiv agreed to drop its ambitions to join Nato and to hand over the entirety of four regions claimed by Moscow, demands Kyiv swiftly rejected as tantamount to surrender.
Ukraine and its western allies say Putin must be prevented from winning the war because, if not stopped, he will threaten other neighbouring states.
Reuters is reporting that Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that its forces had taken control of the villages of Hostre and Hryhorivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
No more details have been provided.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, will chair a meeting of Russia’s security council on Wednesday on nuclear deterrence, the Kremlin said, as Moscow weighs how to respond to Ukraine’s requests to western countries to allow it to strike deep into Russia with long-range western missiles.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described Wednesday’s meeting as an important event.
“There will be a speech by the president. The rest, for obvious reasons, will be marked ‘top secret’,” Peskov told reporters, according to Reuters.
Russia has said it is in the process of revising its nuclear doctrine which sets out the circumstances in which it might resort to the use of nuclear weapons.
Russia will not test a nuclear weapon as long as the US refrains from testing, Putin’s point man for arms control said on Monday after speculation that the Kremlin might abandon its post-Soviet nuclear test moratorium.
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Kremlin calls Zelenskyy plan to force Russia into peace a fatal mistake
The Kremlin on Wednesday called a plan by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to force Russia to make peace a fatal mistake that would have consequences for Kyiv, reports Reuters.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia wanted peace, but that it was impossible to force the issue.
Zelenskyy told the UN security council on Tuesday that the war between Russia and Ukraine could not be calmed by talks alone and that Moscow must be forced into peace.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, said on Wednesday that fighting was ongoing in Vuhledar, a longtime Ukrainian stronghold in the region, reports Reuters citing the Russian state news agency RIA.
Russian forces have taken control of the town of Ukrainsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, state news agency TASS cited local Russian-installed governor Denis Pushilin as saying on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s desire to use western missiles to strike targets in Russia will not be the “sole issue” in Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “victory plan”, UK prime minister Keir Starmer has said.
The US and UK have so far refused to give Kyiv permission to use the missiles they have supplied against targets in Russia, despite repeated pleas from Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian president has said that he is having to fight with his hands tied because he is unable to use the weapons to strike Russian airfields and military facilities which Russian president Vladimir Putin is using to launch deadly air raids, missiles and drones.
Starmer is in New York for the United Nations general assembly, where Zelenskyy will present his plan for the next stage of the war to his allies.
According to the Press Association (PA), Starmer said:
I do think it’s going to take quite a bit of time at the UN general assembly. And I think that’s really important, because it’s at a critical stage.
Obviously, President Zelenskyy has a plan that he wants to walk through with all of us – we knew that was going to happen.
The support for Ukraine is resolute. We supply quite a lot of capability already under the last government; we’ve increased that under this government – that’s not a criticism of the last government – and we will always listen very carefully to what Ukraine says it needs by way of capability.
I don’t think that will be a discussion, I don’t think the victory plan will be about a sole issue like long-range missiles, it will be about a strategic, overarching route for Ukraine to find a way through this and succeed against Russian aggression.”
Pressed on when a decision will be made about the use of UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles within Russia, Starmer said:
We will have discussions about a whole range of issues, and we will listen carefully to what President Zelenskyy’s got to say, and that’s what’s going to happen in the next few days.”
Zelenskyy appeals to global south to help ‘force Russia into peace’
In a forceful speech to the UN security council, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on a broad alliance of nations to “force Russia into peace”, saying that Vladimir Putin has violated the foundations of the United Nations and that the war “can’t be conquered by talks” alone.
Addressing the council, of which Russia is a permanent member, Zelenskyy accused Moscow of committing “international crimes” by targeting Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure, and claimed he had proof that Putin is plotting to target three Ukrainian nuclear power plants to further degrade the country’s energy grid.
After thanking Ukraine’s allies for their support, the Ukrainian leader appealed to countries further afield, calling on Brazil, India and countries across Africa and Latin America, to increase pressure on Russia to halt the war, saying “all [countries] are equally important for peace without exceptions”.
Many of those countries have economic or close diplomatic ties with Russia, and have given greater credence to Putin’s claims that Russia was provoked into the war by the west.
“We know some in the world want to talk to Putin,” Zelenskyy said. “To meet, to talk, to speak. But what could they possibly hear from him? That he’s upset because we are exercising our right to defend our people? Or that he wants to keep the war and terror going, just so no one thinks he was wrong?”
He added: “It’s insane.”
The Ukrainian air force said on Wednesday it shot down 28 out of 32 drones and four out of eight missiles during an overnight Russian attack, reports Reuters.
The air force said Russia launched four missiles at the southern region of Odesa. Its regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said a missile hit an open area and caused a fire which had since been put out.
The debris also damaged two trucks without causing any casualties, Kiper added via the Telegram messaging app.
Kyiv regional governor Ruslan Kravchenko said a drone attack on the region did not deal any damage to critical or residential infrastructure.
Reuters reports that attacks on the north-eastern region of Kharkiv in the early hours of Wednesday damaged a hangar.
Tuesday’s guided bomb attack on the city of Kharkiv killed three people and injured 36 more, the regional governor Oleh Syniehubov added via the Telegram messaging app.
Trump expected to snub Zelenskyy as Biden backs Kyiv
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will speak at the UN general assembly on Wednesday, and is due to meet US presidential candidate Kamala Harris, as well as Joe Biden during his trip to the US this week. But, an official on Donald Trump’s campaign said the Republican nominee will not meet this week with Zelenskyy while he is in the US.
No meeting has been scheduled between the two, the official told the Associated Press (AP), despite a statement from Ukrainian officials last week that said Zelenskyy had planned to see the former president.
Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden said Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine had failed as he urged the UN to keep supporting Kyiv until victory.
“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. He said the war had led to a strategic reordering that strengthened Nato and brought two new countries, Finland and Sweden, into the security pact.
“We cannot grow weary,” he said, as Zelenskyy looked on. “We cannot look away. We will not let up on our support for Ukraine. Not until Ukraine wins a just and durable peace.”
More on that in a moment. In other developments:
