A woman in the Russian-occupied area of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine casts a vote in the Russian parliamentary elections, September 2026 (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

EA-Ukraine VideoCast: Will Trump Sell Out Kyiv for Economic Deal with Russia?

UPDATE 1508 GMT:

France and Slovakia have forced the European Union to remove two Russian oligarchs the sanctions list.

The removal of Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman was necessary for the EU to extend the sanctions for 36 months rather than the originally planned 12.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha denounced the outcome,
“What has changed? Nothing. Delisting is unacceptable and would send the wrong signal to Moscow at a time when pressure needs to increase.”

UPDATE 0955 GMT:

Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party is expected to win a large majority in Russia’s managed Parliamentary elections.

Electoral officers say the ruling party is on track to gain 355 of the 450 seats in the Duma, larger than the record in 2016.

The election is the first national vote during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Parties critical of Putin and/or the invasion were banned.

UPDATE 0944 GMT:

At least six civilians have been murdered and 38 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

In the Donetsk region in the east, three people were killed and 12 wounded.

In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, a woman was slain and five people injured, including a 13-year-old boy with severe burns.

In the neighboring Sumy region, a 38-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man were killed and three people wounded, including a 14-year-old girl.

In Zaporizhzhia city and the surrounding region in the southeast, eight people were wounded amid attacks on a shopping mall, an educational institution, and residential buildings.

Casualties were also reported in the Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

UPDATE 0613 GMT:

Ukraine downed 147 of 172 drones, including 64 jet-powered UAVs, fired by Russia overnight. Strikes were recorded at 14 locations.

Air defenses also downed an S8000 Banderol, a hybrid cruise missile and jet-powered drone.

UPDATE 0558 GMT:

Port Associations head Dmytro Barinov speaks to the Kyiv Post about the effect of Russia’s airstrikes to halt operations at Ukraine’s Black Sea ports:

They really intensified their shelling from the beginning of 2026, but especially from July 2026 – they changed their tactics. They not only hit infrastructure, the port itself, or the vessels which are in the port at that time. They are hunting for vessels which are underway in or out of the port.

And this is the problem. And right now, it’s not a matter of the freight rate or insurance rate.

It’s a matter of life or death for the seafarers. That is why shipowners and masters refuse to call at Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

UPDATE 0450 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says he will meet Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week.

Zelensky reported that he spoke with Trump in “an important conversation” on Sunday: “We got through a lot. We agreed to meet in New York, and this meeting could change a lot.”

The President cited “ideas for de-escalation steps and for addressing fundamental security issues – energy security, food security, and the protection of human life”.

UPDATE, SEPT 21:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says Sunday’s strikes struck “one of Russia’s key oil industry facilities and the aggressor’s logistics facility”.

Zelensky said used multiple drone and missile types, including the Flamingo missile.

Moscow must end its brutal war and choose peace instead of building layered rings of air defense at the expense of other regions. Steps toward de-escalation are on the table – in energy and food security. What is needed is political will.

The President posted that Russia fired more than 2,000 attack drones, most of them jet-powered, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 19 missiles on Ukraine over the past week.

He noted that the Russians hit a monastery with an FPV drone in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, killing one member and wounding four.

UPDATE 0721 GMT:

Fabrice Duprez of the Financial Times summarizes Russia’s attempt to break Ukraine’s economy and civilian resistance with airstrikes.

Missiles and jet-powered drones struck shopping malls, warehouses, and distribution centers in late August and early September. Major Ukrainian retailers, publishing houses, pharmaceutical groups, and Nova Poshta, the country’s biggest private postal carrier, have been damaged.

The strikes have also caused the first supermarket shortages in Kyiv since the early weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Around 2.1 million square meters of the country’s 5 million square meters of modern warehouses have been destroyed, with 900,000 square meters hit in recent months, says Ruslan Shostak, founder of the Eva and Varus retail chains.

Ukraine’s three major remaining steel plants in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions have been disabled, killing 17 workers.

UPDATE 0710 GMT:

Ukraine’s air defenses downed 101 of 138 drones launched by Russia overnight. Strikes were recorded at 17 locations.

UPDATE 0546 GMT:

A woman and three young children were murdered by Russian strikes on the Kyiv region late Saturday.

The Russians attacked a residential area in the Fastiv district as three families with children were gathered outside a house. A mother has taken her two children inside to put them to bed when the explosion occurred, collapsing structural ceilings and igniting a fire.

Another child wounded in the Vyshhorod district died in the hospital.

An attack on a shopping center in Dnipro in southeast Ukraine injured at least four civilians.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine has carried out drone attacks on the Moscow region amid Russia’s managed elections.

Claimed images of fire at the Moscow Oil Refinery are circulating.

The Moscow Oil Refinery is looking beautiful this morning.

[image or embed]

— Jake Broe (@realjakebroe.bsky.social) September 20, 2026 at 4:08 AM

Moscow Governor Andrei Vorobyov said air defenses downed 249 drones across 17 districts between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. He claimed a woman was killed and five people injured when a drone struck a residential building in Sofyino, around 55 km (34 miles) southeast of Moscow.

Russian authorities said a man was slain in another district when a drone hit a home.

Russian aviation officials temporarily restricted operations at the Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports near Moscow overnight.

Russia is holding elections for the Duma from Friday to Sunday, the country’s first parliamentary vote during its 55-month full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The vote has been arranged for an overwhelming victory for Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party, with the banning of all parties opposed to the invasion.