
Russia launches all-day bombing attack on Kyiv
The Kremlin’s assault targeted central areas of the Ukrainian capital.

The Kremlin’s assault targeted central areas of the Ukrainian capital.

Russia pounded Kyiv with drone strikes on Wednesday, hitting railway infrastructure, warehouses and fuel stations, just hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Zelenskyy is in New York for the annual UN gathering as part of his diplomatic effort to shore up and recruit further international support for his country’s gruelling fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion.

On Tuesday, September 22, Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met in New York to discuss the war in Ukraine. Ahead of Zelensky’s address to the UN General Assembly today, he said he wants the war to end before winter, stressing that people across Ukraine are living in increasingly difficult conditions and that the longer the conflict continues, the greater the risk of further deaths on the frontline. Trump has also said that Ukraine and Russia agreed not to target each other’s energy infrastructure, after previously criticising Kyiv for striking Russian oil refineries. According to France 24 correspondent from Ukraine, Gulliver Cragg, Another potential area for a temporary ceasefire could be the Black Sea, where attacks have disrupted Ukrainian and Russian grain shipments. Ukraine has indicated it is willing to cooperate, although Zelensky has questioned whether Russia would do the same. Analysts say the growing Ukrainian pressure on Russian oil infrastructure could create an opening for a limited ceasefire, although there is uncertainty over how strongly Trump is pushing for such an agreement and when he would want it to happen. France 24 International Affairs editor Philip Turle shares further details.

Food supplies to the town of Oleshky in the occupied part of the southern Kherson region have been cut off since May. Efforts by Kyiv to negotiate the evacuation of civilians with Moscow have been largely unsuccessful.
Country: Ukraine Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Please refer to the attached file. OPERATIONAL CONTEXT & HIGHLIGHTS: • Since late August, the Russian Federation (RF) has significantly intensified frequency of attacks, damaging infrastructure and civilian sites, disrupting daily life and causing growing casualties. One of the deadliest attacks occurred on 28 August in Kyiv region, where a Russian strike triggered explosions that killed at least 37 people. According to the UN HRMMU, at least 372 civilians were killed and 2,349 injured in Ukraine in August 2026 - the second highest monthly figure in 2026, after July, with 448 killed and 2,675 injured. • Strikes on Kherson on 27 August damaged the city’s combined heat and power plant, prompting the authorities to urge residents to evacuate. The situation reflects a broader trend across frontline areas, where escalating insecurity and damage to energy and water systems are driving new displacement, mostly within affected regions but also towards western Ukraine. • Humanitarian operations faced growing security risks. RF strikes repeatedly hit warehouses contracted by various UN entities, including UNHCR’s, damaging stocks of critical relief supplies. The increased frequency of attacks also made emergency response efforts more complex and dangerous. • Given security challenges, to ensure continuity of assistance, UNHCR is adapting its operational modalities, including through decentralizing humanitarian stock and exploring additional protective measures such as mobile bomb shelters for war-affected communities. • In the fifth year since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and more than 12 years since the war began, UNHCR’s programme in Ukraine increasingly aims to help war-affected people and communities to recover, and displaced people to find durable solutions, particularly through housing and strategic protection advocacy.

Second day of UNGA in New York will feature speeches by European leaders, while Trump and Xi will meet later Ukraine is set to feature prominently on Day 2 of the UN general assembly in New York, with leaders first joining the UN security council meeting on Ukraine, before president Volodymyr Zelenskyy takes to the podium to deliver his address to the assembly. It will be a key opportunity to rally international support behind Kyiv, bolstering Ukraine’s position ahead of any potential peace talks with Moscow. Continue reading...

The intensified attacks on infrastructure heighten market concerns over potential Russian territorial advances, impacting geopolitical stability.

Ukraine leader says Kyiv is ready to stop strikes on Russian facilities if Moscow halts attacks on its energy system.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists that Kyiv is ready to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure if Moscow does the same, with hopes to end the war before winter.

The Ukrainian president added that he had just finished a "positive and productive meeting with President Trump" in New York on Tuesday.

France and Luxembourg were behind the sanctions exemptions for Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, a move that Kyiv labeled "shameful and unjustifiable."

Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman both have close ties to President Putin, and Kyiv said the move sent Moscow the wrong signals.

Ukraine and Hungary have long disagreed over the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority in Ukraine.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Sybiha accused Magyar of echoing Orbán's "obstructionism and isolationism" after the Hungarian PM lambasted Kyiv for including Hungary in its new Carpathian Eight forum without consent.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Russia has “lost control” of its diesel oil industry due to the Ukraine war, as he presses Kyiv to agree to an energy truce.

On Russia and Ukraine, Macron said he pressed Trump on the issue of supplying defensive weapons systems to Kyiv.

Many of the men served in units that Kyiv has accused of war crimes

Five Western nations and Kyiv condemned the voting in occupied Ukraine as illegal, while a Ukrainian drone strike on Moscow on the final day of polling killed two people.