KYIV — Kyiv’s allies have elevated army assist for Ukraine this month, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has mentioned, after the European Union pledged a brand new $39 billion mortgage for the nation’s restoration.
“[Aid] accelerated in September…and we are able to really feel the distinction,” Zelenskiy mentioned late on September 20.
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The EU mortgage — backed by revenues of frozen Russian belongings — was introduced by European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen, who visited Kyiv on September 20.
Forward of the journey, she mentioned the EU will present an extra $178 million to assist Ukraine restore broken power infrastructure, develop renewable power, and finance shelters.
Nevertheless, Zelenskiy additionally pointed to U.S. resistance to permitting Kyiv to make use of Western-supplied weapons to strike deep inside Russia, saying it’s a results of fears by the White Home of potential escalations by the Kremlin.
“I believe [U.S. President Joe] Biden is admittedly getting data from his entourage immediately that there could also be an escalation. However — and that is necessary — not everybody round him thinks so. And that is already an achievement in that not all of his entourage thinks so,” mentioned Zelenskiy, who’s touring to america within the upcoming week to deal with the UN and meet with Biden and different U.S. leaders.
Consultants have warned that the approaching winter may very well be the toughest but for Ukraine, because the nation’s power infrastructure is underneath vital strain amid Russian strikes on its energy crops, heating crops, and transmission networks.
Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned on September 21 that it once more struck Ukrainian power amenities in a single day utilizing high-precision weapons and drones. The declare can’t be independently verified.
Ukrainian International Minister Andriy Sybiha mentioned Kyiv believes that Moscow is making ready to strike Ukrainian nuclear amenities earlier than the onset of winter and he urged worldwide watchdogs to ascertain “everlasting enhanced missions” on the websites.
“Harm to these amenities creates a excessive threat of a nuclear incident with international penalties,” he wrote on X.
Late on September 21, Mayor Ihor Terekhov mentioned explosions rang out in Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis — with a guided bomb hitting a high-rise residential constructing, injuring at the very least 12 folks.
Ukrainian authorities mentioned an earlier Russian assault killed three civilians in central Ukraine, as Ukrainian drone strikes compelled Russia to evacuate residents of a border village.
A 12-year-old boy and two aged girls had been killed within the metropolis of Kryvyi Rih within the Dnipropetrovsk area in “a terrifying assault in the course of the night time, when the town slept,” regional Governor Serhiy Lysak wrote on Telegram.
He mentioned three different folks had been wounded within the assault, which additionally destroyed two buildings and partially broken 20 extra.
Kryvyi Rih, a serious steel-producing metropolis, usually comes underneath Russian air strikes.
Earlier, Ukrainian authorities reported that two folks had been killed and 15 others, together with kids, had been wounded in Russian assaults within the northeastern Kharkiv area late on September 20.
Ukrainian air defenses shot down 5 Russian missiles and 11 drones on the night time of September 21, in keeping with a press release by the Ukrainian Air Pressure.
In the meantime, Russia’s Protection Ministry claimed on September 21 that 101 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted in a single day over varied Russian areas.
The drone assaults compelled Russian authorities to evacuate at the very least 1,200 folks from the Tikhorets district in southwestern Krasnodar area, the regional governor mentioned on September 21.
Veniamin Kondratyev mentioned on Telegram that falling particles from a downed drone “induced a hearth that unfold to explosive objects.” Residents had been evacuated however no casualties had been reported, the governor added.
Kondratyev didn’t present additional particulars in regards to the incident, however the Telegram channel Astra reported that falling particles induced a hearth and explosion at a weapons depot.
In a press release on September 21, Ukraine’s army mentioned it had struck a depot close to the town of Tikhoretsk, labeling it considered one of Russia’s “three largest ammunition storage bases [and] one of many key ones within the logistics system of Russian troops.”
It additionally mentioned Kyiv’s forces struck a key weapons arsenal close to the settlement of Oktyabrskiy in Russia’s Tver area.
A freeway was closed for 2 hours within the Tver area city of Toropets on the morning of September 21 to make sure the security of visitors, Russian information companies reported, citing a department of the federal roads company.
Ukraine, which has been defending itself towards the full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022, has repeatedly attacked targets on Russian soil, together with ammunition and gasoline depots, to disrupt provides for Moscow’s troops combating in Ukraine.
Off the battlefield, Russia International Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on September 21 mentioned the Kremlin is not going to participate in any follow-up to the June peace summit hosted by Switzerland, calling the method a “fraud” carried out by Ukraine and its Western backers.
Greater than 90 nations attended the summit in June, though Russia — which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — was not invited and China declined to attend. Some international locations have urged that Moscow be included within the subsequent gathering.