Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky with Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, New York, September 23, 2025 (Sky)

Tuesday’s Coverage: Zelensky at UN, Will Meet Trump

UPDATE 0914 GMT:

Unsettled by Donald Trump’s shift of position in support of Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “We are continuing our ‘special military operation’ to ensure our interests and achieve the goals.”

He insisted, in response to Trump’s declaration that Russia was “a paper tiger”, Peskov said, “Russia is by no means a tiger. After all, Russia is more commonly associated with a bear. There is no such thing as a ‘paper bear,’ and Russia is a real bear.”

Peskov said of Trump Administration talks with the Kremlin, “This track is sluggish, very sluggish….The effectiveness there…[is] close to zero.”

UPDATE 0813 GMT:

At least seven civilians have been murdered and at least 41 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses intercepted 126 of 152 drones launched by Russia overnight. The other 26 hit seven locations.

In Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine, a 70-year-old woman was killed and three people were injured.

A Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia city killed two people and injured 15.

In the Donetsk region in the east, three people were slain and eight wounded.

In the Sumy region in the northeast, a 46-year-old man was murdered and three people injured.

Casualties were also reported in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions.

UPDATE 0638 GMT:

Ukraine’s latest drone attacks inside Russia have halted production at the Astrakhan gas processing plant in the south of the country.

Fire engulfed a condensate production unit on Monday, three industry sources said. The damaged unit had a capacity of 3 million metric tons of gas and diesel per year.

Sales of wholesale fuel parcels from the Gazprom plant were canceled on the St. Petersburg commodity exchange on Monday.

Astrakhan is around 647 km (402 miles) from the border with Ukraine.

Ukraine’s strikes have reduced Russian diesel exports to their lowest levels since the COVID pandemic in 2020. Since the start of August, 16 of Russia’s 38 oil refineries have been struck, limiting Russia’s refining capacity by 1 million barrels per day — around 17% of output.

The damage has compounded Russia’s mounting gasoline shortage.

Ukraine also hit Gazprom’s Neftekhim Salavat petrochemical plant in the Bashkortostan Republic for the second time within a week, said a Ukrainian military intelligence official.

The head of the Bashkortostan Republic, Radiy Khabirov, confirmed that emergency services are fighting a fire at the plant.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed a “productive meeting” with Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Playing again to Trump’s focus on personal acclaim — as he and European leaders did in the White House last month, three days after Vladimir Putin manipulated Trump in their summit in Alaska — Zelensky highlighted Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children to praise Melania Trump.

“Today, there was significant focus on bringing back children abducted by Russia and supporting our efforts in defense of life,” the President wrote.

He also referred to “several promising ideas to advance peace”, and the US provision of weapons thru sales to NATO countries and transfer to Kyiv.

“Mr President clearly understands the situation and is well-informed about all aspects of this war. We highly value his resolve to help end this war,” Zelensky concluded.

Trump: “Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic Trouble”

The effect of the meeting on Trump was evident. Shifting his position, at least for the day, Trump declared for the first time that Ukraine can defeat Russia’s 44-month full-scale invasion. He posted on social media:

After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.

With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option. Why not?…

Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years, a war that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win.

Declaring that Russia is a “paper tiger”, Trump pledged “to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them”.

“Putin and Russia are in BIG economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act,” he asserted.

Zelensky said at a press conference, “This post of Trump, it’s a big shift.” He said he briefed Trump “on what’s going on”, and the reality TV star “agreed with” him about the situation on the battlefield.

I think he knows more details…than before. And I am happy with this, and I’m thankful for him, or maybe also for him, for his people who briefed him….

Gradually, he realized that Putin was simply sharing some information that was far from the truth on the battlefield. Now he trusts me much more because the information that my intelligence has, that we share with our partners.

Will Trump Agree Toughened Sanctions on Russia?

In his confrontational, rambling address to the General Assembly earlier in the day, Trump again said he would not toughen sanctions on Russia until the European Union cuts all oil and gas supplies from Moscow.

However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio softened the position. He said Trump is open to levying “additional economic costs” on Russia, as well as selling additional defensive weaponry and “potentially offensive weaponry” to Ukraine.

Rubio also emphasized that the war “cannot end militarily”. He told the UN Security Council, “It will end at a negotiating table. That’s where this war will end.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen assured Trump that he was “absolutely right” about the issue of Russia oil and gas.

We’re on it. We have reduced already massive gas supply from Russia, completely gotten out of Russian coal, and massively also reduced the oil supply. But there’s still some coming to the European continent.

So what we do now? We put sanctions out to those ports where, for example, energy is coming from Russia. And we want to put tariffs on oil supplies that are still coming to the European Union.

Last week the EU advanced the date for a complete halt to imports of Russian gas to January 1, 2027 from January 1, 2028.

The measure is being blocked by Trump’s allies in Hungary and Slovakia. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó maintained on Monday, “We can’t ensure the safe supply for our country without Russian oil or gas sources.”

Trump said of Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán: “He’s a friend of mine. I have not spoken to him [about importing Russian oil], but I have a feeling if I did, he might stop, and I think I’ll be doing that.”

Trump Supports NATO Defense v. Russian Drones

As European leaders confirmed a firm line against any more Russian drone overflights of their countries, Trump gave support.

Asked by a reporter if he thought NATO members should shoot down the drones, Trump replied, “Yes, yes I do.”

Poland, Sweden, and Lithuania confirmed that they will now down any Russian UAVs violating airspace. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski posted, alongside a video of Trump’s endorsement:

Trump later hedged his statement, saying that downings would depend on circumstances. Secretary of State Rubio said they should occur only if the drones “are attacking”.

Zelensky to Security Council: “Without China, Putin’s Russia is Nothing”

Addressing the UN Security Council, Zelensky asked, “Whom must we call to peace, and on whom must we press to achieve it?”

He noted, “Putin fears to face Ukraine and the world and admit he wants only war. He sends delegates who won’t stop the bloodshed, while abroad he only buys time for killing, pretending to seek diplomacy.”

Then the President answered his question:

China is here – a powerful nation on which Russia now depends completely. If China truly wanted this war to stop, it could compel Moscow to end the invasion. Without China, Putin’s Russia is nothing. Yet too often, China stays silent and distant, instead of active for peace.

Zelensky addressed the other permanent Council members: “With Britain, France, and over 30 nations in our Coalition of Willing, we are building a new security architecture. We count on the US as a backstop. Real guarantees must become a line Russia cannot cross again.”