KYIV, Ukraine — Russia hammered Kyiv with drones in daylight attacks on Wednesday hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
Panic in Kyiv as Russian drone explodes
Two people were killed and 41 wounded in Ukraine’s capital as the attacks stretched into Wednesday afternoon. Palls of black smoke floated above the city following the latest in what have been daily Russian attacks that torment Ukrainian civilians. The drones set off fires and damaged buildings in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine overnight, authorities said.
Zelenskyy was in New York for the annual U.N. gathering as part of his diplomatic effort to shore up and recruit further international support for his country’s grueling 4½-year fight against Russia’s invasion. He addressed the General Assembly, met with European leaders and was also due to hold talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. In his address to the Assembly, Zelenskyy urged the international community to keep limiting Russian oil revenues to prevent Russia’s ability to keep financing its war in Ukraine.
“When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time. And that is exactly why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor, and why we are burning Russia’s revenues ourselves,” he said.
Zelenskyy met on Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has shown impatience with the lack of progress in talks aimed at ending the war and the escalating aerial attacks by both sides this year.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin hasn’t traveled to the gathering in years, sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov instead. Lavrov, who met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss Ukraine and other issues, reaffirmed Wednesday that Moscow is open for talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine, but wouldn’t accept a break in hostilities before a peace deal is agreed.
Rubio told reporters on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting that Trump has invited Putin to the G20 meeting that he will host at his Miami country club in December, adding that “we think it’s an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president, but with other world leaders.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was grateful for the invitation, adding that the issue will be discussed further via diplomatic channels.
Ukraine has hit back at Russia by damaging oil refineries that are a vital pillar of the country’s economy.
Speaking in New York, Zelenskyy said that “our target is Russia’s ability to finance this war, to drag it out, to make it more brutal and more destructive. Russia’s finances and Russia’s production are what must be stopped.”
The Ukrainian leader said at the start of his U.S. visit that he had proposals for a possible de-escalation in the war. Urgent issues for Kyiv are halting devastating Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid and ensuring Ukrainian grain can be shipped to world markets through the Black Sea despite the war.
Ukraine also needs more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems as a shield against Russian ballistic missiles, but Patriots are in short supply after the war in Iran began.
In Zaporizhzhia, in southeastern Ukraine, two men ages 37 and 39 were wounded by a strike that started a large fire at a shopping mall. Emergency services said the fire spread across about 6,000 square meters (1.5 acres) before coming under control.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces struck Ukraine’s military-industrial and energy sector facilities, logistics centers and sea vessels in overnight attacks.
The ministry said its air defenses intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, as well as illegally annexed Crimea and waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
In another development, the Polish military said a Russian military helicopter briefly violated Poland’s airspace Wednesday on the country’s border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. It said that “the nature of the incident suggests that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defense.”
