Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to carry out long-range strikes inside Russia with US-supplied weapons, and to earn “a place in history” by “strengthening Ukraine” before he leaves office. Speaking before a crucial trip to the US, including the UN, to shore up support for Ukraine in the war, Zelenskyy said he would present a “victory plan” to end the war. Zelenskyy on Sunday will visit the Pennsylvania ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for his country’s fight. He is expected to go to the Scranton army ammunition plant to kick off a busy week in the US shoring up support for Ukraine, officials told the Associated Press. This week he also will address the UN general assembly’s annual gathering in New York and travel to Washington for talks with President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Zelenskyy also said on Saturday that the end of the war depended on the “resolve” of Kyiv’s western allies in providing needed weaponry and permission to use it. Speaking in his nightly video address, he issued further pleas to boost supplies of weaponry to fend off the slow advance of Russian forces in the Donetsk region. Kyiv also seeks permission to use western weapons against targets deep inside Russia to pre-empt Moscow’s air attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure, including energy facilities. Russian president Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia would be “at war” with the United States and its Nato allies if they allow Ukraine to use the long-range weapons.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Saturday that Russia is planning strikes on Ukrainian nuclear facilities before the winter, and urged the UN’s nuclear watchdog and allies to establish permanent monitoring missions at the country’s nuclear plants. There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
Russia will take no part in any follow-up to the Swiss-organised “peace summit” held in June as the process amounts to “fraud”, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Saturday. Russia was not invited to the June meeting and dismissed it as meaningless without Moscow’s participation. Zelenskyy has said he hopes to organise a follow-up meeting by the end of the year with Russia attending.
Ukrainian officials said on Saturday their forces had hit two Russian munitions depots overnight, in attacks that illustrated its growing capability to strike targets deep inside Russia. A statement by Ukraine’s military general staff said “at least 2,000 tons” of weaponry, including missiles supplied by North Korea, were destroyed at Tikhoretsk in southern Russia and Oktyabrsky in the western region of Tver.
In the western Tver region, authorities announced on Saturday the temporary closure of a major federal road after the Ukrainian attack near the city of Toropets, about 380km northwest of Moscow and 500km from the Ukrainian border. Russian authorities temporarily closed a 100km stretch of a highway and evacuated passengers from a rail station after a blaze caused a series of explosions. Unverified images circulating on Telegram on Saturday showed a large ball of flame rising into the night sky and dozens of smoke trails from detonations.
Russian forces struck a multi-storey apartment building in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, on Saturday evening, injuring at least 12 people and prompting an evacuation of some of its residents, mayor Ihor Terekhov said. Terekhov said the Russians had deployed a guided bomb.
A 12-year-old boy and two older women were killed as Russian missiles struck Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s home town in central Ukraine, local governor Serhii Lysak said on Saturday. Lysak said the missiles hit “in the middle of the night, when the city slept”, wounding three more people, destroying two buildings and damaging another 20.
Iran unveiled a new ballistic missile and an upgraded one-way attack drone at a military parade on Saturday, state media said, amid soaring regional tensions and allegations of arming Russia. Iran stands accused by western governments of supplying both drones and missiles to Russia for use in its war with Ukraine, a charge it has repeatedly denied.
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