Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would visit the US Capitol on Thursday to meet with Democratic and Republican legislators, said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office on Tuesday.
The European Union and 12 partner countries had met in Brussels to discuss the effectiveness of Western sanctions on Russia and ways to strengthen the G7 price cap on Russian oil, said the EU Commission on Tuesday.
Russian attacks on two towns in Ukraine’s east killed three people and wounded two more, said regional authorities.
Zelensky to visit US Capitol on Thursday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would visit the US Capitol on Thursday to meet Democratic and Republican legislators, said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office on Tuesday.
EU and allies ‘seek to strengthen Russian oil price cap’
The European Union and 12 partner countries had met in Brussels to discuss the effectiveness of Western sanctions on Russia and ways to strengthen the G7 price cap on Russian oil, said the EU Commission on Tuesday.
The Group of Seven countries (G7), in coordination with the EU, imposed a price cap in late 2022 that blocked access to Western shipping services and insurance if the oil was purchased at more than $60 a barrel, aiming to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine.
The effectiveness of the measure has waned since the end of last year as Russia built up a shadow fleet of hundreds of tankers, mostly old ones at a higher risk of accidents.
Western powers, including the EU, began sanctioning vessels directly over the past year in an effort to push the trade back under the cap.
EU sanctions envoy David O’Sullivan led the meetings.
“This is the fourth time we meet in Brussels … there is more that needs to be done and relentless enforcement is where we all should focus on now,” said O’Sullivan.
The commission said Russia had spent nearly half its federal budget on defence and security and that Russia was believed to be paying over 130% more for semiconductors and over 300% more for machine tools via Turkey and China than before its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Last week O’Sullivan said the EU would look at targeting specific financial institutions and the transit of products from Southeast Asia through China that were being used by Russia’s military. Ukraine’s presidential adviser said on Tuesday that China remained the “biggest problem”.
Three killed, two wounded in Russian attacks on Ukrainian towns
Russian attacks on two towns in Ukraine’s east killed three people and wounded two more, said regional authorities.
An artillery strike on the strategic hub of Pokrovsk hit a residential area and killed two middle-aged men, according to Donetsk regional prosecutors.
Russia has long been pressing on the Pokrovsk front and stepped up its assaults in recent months, getting as close to its outskirts as 8km.
Earlier in the day, Russian guided aerial bombs damaged two unspecified infrastructure facilities in Kostiantynivka, the Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram. One person was killed and two wounded, he said.
Kostiantynivka lies some 12km from Chasiv Yar, a town on high ground where Ukrainian forces are attempting to stave off Russian westward advances.
Lula at UN touts Brazil-China plan for Ukraine-Russia talks
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva advocated on Tuesday for a plan for talks between Russia and Ukraine to end their conflict, a proposal already rejected by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Lula, who has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin by telephone about the proposal, did not give any details of the six-point plan in his speech at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly.
His foreign policy adviser, Celso Amorim, would seek support for the plan from representatives of 20 countries when they met in New York on Friday, said Brazilian diplomats.
Zelensky has rejected the proposal as “destructive” and insisted his summit initiative is the only viable peace format.
The Chinese-Brazilian proposal, which was made public in May after Amorim visited Beijing, calls for de-escalating the situation and the resumption of direct dialogue without requiring Russia to pull back.
Friday’s meeting will include countries from the Global South, but not European governments that are the staunchest supporters of Ukraine. Among those invited are Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
“The intention is to listen to what these countries can bring, create a critical mass and review these points,” a Brazilian official told Reuters. “Many countries want to listen, including the Europeans.”
In his speech, Lula warned that the conflict in Gaza was expanding “dangerously” to Lebanon, adding to calls for a ceasefire.
“The right of defence has turned into the right of revenge, which prevents an agreement to release hostages and postpones a ceasefire,” said Lula.
Freed Russian prisoners urge action
Freed Russian political prisoners on Tuesday appealed for the release of more than 1,000 others still incarcerated as a UN expert described a significant worsening of state repression in Russia that was endangering lives.
A group of political prisoners freed in August alongside US journalist Evan Gershkovich in a major prisoner swap called for states to ramp up pressure at a meeting of diplomats and rights groups at the UN in Geneva.
Russian officials say the West routinely exaggerates the extent of repression in Russia.
“Let us not forget about all the others who are left behind, who still have to wake up at five in the morning … and walk around in a small circle in the snow and just stare at a wall every day,” said Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza who was freed from a Siberian penal colony last month.
Kevin Lik, a 19-year-old German-Russian national imprisoned on treason charges became emotional when describing his solitary confinement in Russia’s far northwest where he said he was denied books and telephone calls to family.
“The only thing I can say now is that young political prisoners are not just statistics, they are the future of Russia and we must take actions to ensure this future is not stolen,” he told a room full of diplomats and rights activists.
Earlier, UN Special Rapporteur Mariana Katzarova told the UN Human Rights Council that oppression had intensified since the Ukraine war began in 2022, with the number of political prisoners up to more than 1,300.
Russian strike on apartment block kills three
Russia hit a high-rise apartment block and a bakery in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv with guided bombs on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring 31 more, with others feared trapped under rubble, authorities said.
“The targets of the Russian bombs were an apartment building, a bakery, a stadium. In other words, the everyday life of ordinary people,” said Zelensky on X.
The strike took place just as world leaders gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
“There is much discussion now at the UN General Assembly about collective efforts for security and the future. But we just need to stop the terror. To have security. To have a future,” said Zelensky, who was attending the gathering.
Images from the site showed a hole blown through the nine-storey apartment block, several floors of it destroyed. The building was hit directly, said local officials.
Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said on the Telegram messenger that it 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 the heating season. The enemy hit it a second time,” said Terekhov, adding that the section of the building that suffered most damage was housing 82 people.
A 17-year-old was among the injured and four other people were in serious condition, said the regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov.
Russia launched eight guided bombs, six of which hit Kharkiv, regional prosecutors said on Telegram. The most densely populated area of the city was targeted, according to Terekhov.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, 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.
Russian forces storm east Ukrainian town of Vuhledar
Russian forces had begun storming the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a stronghold that has resisted Russian attack since the beginning of the 2022 war, according to Russian war bloggers and state media.
Russian forces in eastern Ukraine advanced at their fastest rate in two years in August, according to multiple open-source maps, even though a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region sought to force Moscow to divert troops.
Putin has said Russia’s primary tactical goal at present is to take the whole of the Donbas region in southeastern Ukraine. Russia controls just under a fifth of Ukraine, including about 80% of the Donbas.
Russian forces have been pushing westwards at key points along some 150km of the front in the Donetsk region, with the logistics hub of Pokrovsk a key target. They captured nearby Ukrainsk on 17 September and were now entering the hilltop town of Vuhledar, about 80km south of Pokrovsk.
“Russian units have entered Vuhledar — the storm of the town has begun,” said Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger. Multiple pro-Russian war bloggers confirmed the attack.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had defeated Ukrainian units at a series of settlements including Vuhledar, which Russians call Ugledar, and that the Eastern Grouping of Russian forces had improved their tactical positions. It gave no further details on Vuhledar.
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.
Vuhledar’s military administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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.
“[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,” said Kovalenko. “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 pummelling it with artillery and guided bombs. DM