Ukraine-Russia war live: Zelensky says Putin must be ‘forced into peace’ as Kharkiv stronghold liberated
Ukrainian forces recapture Russian stronghold in Kharkiv after fighting including hand-to-hand combat
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The Ukraine war will not be ended by talks alone and Russia must be “forced into peace”, Volodymyr Zelensky has told the UN Security Council.
“[Vladimir] Putin has broken so many international norms and rules that he won’t stop on his own, Russia can only be forced into peace, and that is exactly what’s needed, forcing Russia into peace, as the sole aggressor in this war, the sole violator of the UN Charter,” Mr Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president, who is in the US this week lobbying for support from UN member states and American leaders, also criticised North Korea and Iran as “de facto accomplices” in Russia’s war.
Foreign secretary David Lammy also tore into Mr Putin and said the invasion of Ukraine serves the Russian president’s interests alone.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces have recaptured a Russian stronghold in Kharkiv’s Vovchansk after intense fighting involving hand-to-hand combat in “densely built-up conditions”, military officials said.
And Russian forces have been accused of using “scorched earth” tactics to capture Vuhledar in Ukraine’s east, where fighting has grown particularly fierce.
Russian repression worsens, UN expert says, voicing fears for political prisoners
State repression has worsened in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, a UN expert has said, warning of arbitrary imprisonment and risks for more than 1,000 political prisoners.
“The country is now governed by a State-sponsored system of fear and punishment, including the use of torture, with absolute impunity,” UN Special Rapporteur Mariana Katzarova told the Geneva-based Human Rights Council,
The Bulgarian former Amnesty International investigator said in a report on Russia’s rights record that oppression had intensified since the February 2022 Ukraine war began, with the number of political prisoners up to more than 1,300.
Many were jailed on fabricated charges, she said, noting a priest’s seven-year sentence for a prayer against the war.
“They risk anything from death, like (opposition leader Alexei) Navalny, or really their health being completely taken away from them,” she said on Monday ahead of her speech, noting greater use of torture and solitary confinement.
Pictured: Zelensky meets with world leaders at UN general assembly
Russian forces storming east Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, bloggers and media say
Russian forces have begun storming the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a stronghold that has resisted Russian attack since the beginning of the 2022 war, according to Russian war bloggers and state media.
Russian forces in eastern Ukraine advanced at their fastest rate in two years in August, according to multiple open source maps, even though a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region sought to force Moscow to divert troops.
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia’s primary tactical goal is currently to take the whole of the Donbas region in south-eastern Ukraine. Russia controls just under a fifth of Ukraine, including about 80% of the Donbas.
Russian forces have been pushing westwards at key points along some 150 km (93 miles) of the front in the Donetsk region, with the logistics hub of Pokrovsk a key target. They captured nearby Ukrainsk on 17 September and were now entering the hilltop town of Vuhledar, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Pokrovsk.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had defeated Ukrainian units at a series of settlements including Vuhledar, which Russians call Ugledar, and that the Eastern Grouping of Russian forces had improved their tactical positions. It gave no further details on Vuhledar.
Unverified video on Russian state media showed Vuhledar, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, under heavy artillery and aerial bombardment.
Ukraine accuses Russia of seeking to illegally control strategic sea as arbitration hearings open
Ukraine accuses Russia of seeking to illegally control strategic sea as arbitration hearings open
Ukraine has accused Russia of seeking to illegally seize control of the strategically important Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait
Kremlin says Israeli strikes on Lebanon risk destabilising the Middle East
The Kremlin has warned Israeli strikes on Lebanon had the potential to completely destabilise the Middle East and widen the conflict there.
Israel struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Iran-backed group attacked military facilities in northern Israel on Tuesday, a day after hundreds were killed in Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah targets.
Asked about the Israeli strikes, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call: “This is an event that is potentially extremely dangerous when it comes to the expansion of the conflict, to the complete destabilisation of the region. Of course, this is of extreme concern to us.”
In a separate statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow condemned what she called “indiscriminate” strikes on Lebanon that target civilians.
“It is urgent to stop the spiral of violence before the situation spirals completely out of control. We call for an immediate cessation of hostilities,” she said.
Russia has deepened ties with Hezbollah patron Iran since the start of its “special military operation” in Ukraine. It has questioned the proportionality of Israel’s bombing of Gaza and the number of civilians killed, straining ties with Israel.
Watch: Putin’s Satan II ballistic missile ‘blows up during test launch’
Putin’s Satan II ballistic missile ‘blows up during test launch’
A Russian RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile likely failed during a test earlier this month, according to arms experts and satellite imagery from the launch site. Maxar satellite images from 21 September show a crater about 60 meters wide at the launch silo at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia and damage around the area that was not visible in imagery from earlier in the month. It was not clear from the imagery if the liquid-fueled Sarmat failed during a launch or if there was an accident during defuelling. “By all indications, it was a failed test. It’s a big hole in the ground,” said Pavel Podvig, an analyst based in Geneva, who runs the Russian Nuclear Forces project. “There was a serious incident with the missile and the silo.” The 35-meter RS-28 Sarmat, known as Satan II, has a range of 18,000km and a launch weight of over 208 tonnes. It can carry up to 16 multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle nuclear warheads as well as some Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles, according to Russian media.
Explained: What is the Satan II missile?
The RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is designed to deliver nuclear warheads to strike targets thousands of miles away in the United States or Europe, but its development has been dogged by delays and testing setbacks.
The 35-metre-long RS-28 Sarmat, known in the West as Satan II, has a range of 18,000 km (11,000 miles) and a launch weight of over 208 tonnes.
Russian media say it can carry up to 16 independently targetable nuclear warheads as well as Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles, a new system that Putin has said is unmatched by Russia’s enemies.
Since the start of the conflict, President Vladimir Putin has said repeatedly that Russia has the biggest and most advanced nuclear arsenal in the world, and warned the West not to cross a threshold that could lead to nuclear war.
Putin said in October 2023 that Russia had almost completed work on the missile.
Kremlin continues to show public disinterest in peace talks short of complete destruction of the Ukrainian state, think tank says
The Kremlin have continued to show a public disinterest in peace talks unless it involves the complete destruction of the Ukrainian state, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank has said.
ISW analysts noted that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed reports that Ukraine invited Russia to attend Ukraine’s second peace summit but that the Kremlin had not demonstrated any interest in participating.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov recently said there is “no alternative” to Russian victory in Ukraine, reiterating Russia’s unwillingness to negotiate on terms other than Ukrainian “capitulation”.
“ISW continues to assess that the Kremlin is not interested in good faith peace negotiations with Ukraine and that the Kremlin will only invoke the concept of ‘peace plans’ and ‘negotiations’ to prompt the West to pressure Ukraine into preemptive concessions on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the situation report from the ISW said.
World leaders meet at UN conference amid global divisions including three wars and possible middle-east conflict
World leaders will open their annual meeting at the UN General Assembly under the shadow of increasing global divisions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine and, Sudan and the threat of an even larger conflict in the wider Middle East. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres previewed his opening “State of the World” speech to presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and ministers at Sunday’s “Summit of the Future,” saying “our world is heading off the rails — and we need tough decisions to get back on track.” He pointed to conflicts “raging and multiplying, from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan, with no end in sight” and to the global security system, which he said is “threatened by geopolitical divides, nuclear posturing, and the development of new weapons and theaters of war.”
At last year’s UN global gathering, Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, took center stage. Mr Zelensky will be in attendance this year.
One killed and two injured in Russian attack on east Ukrainian town
A Russian guided aerial bomb attack on the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka has killed one person and injured two, according to the Dontesk regional governor Vadym Filashkin.
The attack damaged two unspecified infrastructure facilities, Filashkin added via the Telegram messaging app.
The eastern town lies some 12 kilometers (8 miles) from Chasiv Yar, a town on high ground where Ukrainian forces are attempting to stave off Russian westward advances.
Moscow denies intentionally targeting civilians in its invasion of Ukraine, although it has killed thousands of them. It says its strikes on infrastructure aim to reduce Ukraine‘s ability to fight.
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