LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged attendees of this week’s United Nations Basic Meeting classes in New York to make use of the assembly of world leaders to use “robust political stress” on Russia, as Moscow’s conflict on its neighbor wears on.
Zelenskyy posted to social media on Monday morning, following Russia’s newest in a single day strike on Ukrainian cities throughout the nation. Drones hit Donetsk, Dnipro, Sumy, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson areas, Zelenskyy stated.
At the least three folks had been killed in Zaporizhzhia, the president stated. Ukraine’s air power stated Russia launched 141 drones into the nation, of which 132 had been downed or suppressed.
“That is already the fourth time that Russia accompanies one of many highest annual international diplomatic occasions with killings,” Zelenskyy stated in his put up, referring to this week’s UNGA classes.
“That’s the reason it’s so essential for this diplomatic week to be productive,” he added. “We should act in order that killings and conflict don’t grow to be routine.”
The United Nations headquarters is seen in Manhattan on Sept. 9, 2025 because the annual U.N. Basic Meeting, the eightieth, started with hundreds of delegates and world leaders anticipated to attend over the following few weeks.
Spencer Platt/Getty Photographs
“There’s a actual want for robust stress on Russia, new joint steps from everybody on the planet who believes that worldwide regulation should work once more,” Zelenskyy stated, calling particularly on “Europe, the USA, the G7 and G20 nations — all those that have actual affect on Russia.”
“Robust sanctions, robust political stress, Russia’s accountability for the conflict — all of that is obligatory,” Zelenskyy wrote. “All of it will occur.”
U.S.-led peace talks have up to now failed to supply a ceasefire in Ukraine, the place Russian forces stay on the offensive at a number of factors alongside the entrance line three-and-a-half years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Russian assaults on Ukraine have intensified since U.S. President Donald Trump met with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August.
And in latest weeks, repeated Russian drone and plane violations of NATO airspace in Poland, Romania and Estonia have additional raised tensions between Moscow and its Western adversaries.
At Tallinn’s request, the United Nations Safety Council will convene an emergency assembly on Monday to debate the violation of Estonian airspace by three Russian fighter plane on Sept. 12.
Trump — who is predicted to fulfill with Zelenskyy in New York this week — has repeatedly expressed his frustration with Putin over the failure of peace efforts and Moscow’s continued long-range strikes. Whereas within the U.Ok. final week, Trump stated Putin had “let me down.”
Nonetheless, Trump has refused to impose on Russia the total raft of further sanctions and tariffs that he has threatened. The White Home did introduce further 25% tariffs on all Indian imports in response to New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil and army items.
Trump stated final week that he wouldn’t introduce additional measures till European nations — who’ve broadly been extra full-throated than the White Home of their continued army and political backing for Kyiv — impose steep tariffs on India and China.
Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and chair of the physique’s overseas affairs committee, advised ABC Information that the deliberate Trump-Zelenskyy assembly in New York this week is constructive.
On this photograph offered by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters carry an individual after a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Sept. 22, 2025.
AP
“It is at all times good and offers an opportunity to make him extra receptive to our wants,” he stated. “On the identical time, I haven’t got excessive expectations. Trump appears reluctant to make use of severe sanctions towards Russia and its allies.”
Kyiv can be watching intently to see what number of states again a deliberate decision expressing help for Ukraine. “It is indicative of our help on the planet, together with within the International South,” Merezhko stated.
Russian officers, in the meantime, have signaled no imminent willingness to conform to a ceasefire or to a gathering between Putin and Zelenskyy, an concept proposed by Trump after his Alaska summit with the Russian president.
Final week, Russian International Minister Sergei Lavrov stated Trump’s disappointment with the tempo of the negotiations with Russia might be “partly defined by the truth that he desires fast options.”
ABC Information’ Anna Sergeeva and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
