Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s air strikes target power grid and home for elderly

The European Union believes that Ukraine is expected to face some blackouts after its energy system has been battered by Russian strikes.

But Katarína Mathernová, ambassador of the European Union to Ukraine, does not believe the situation will be catastrophic.

"I would certainly expect that there are going to be some blackouts,” Ms Mathernová told European Pravda.

“But from all the discussions that I’ve been having and the scenarios that we have had, the situation is not going to be catastrophic. It’s going to be difficult, it’s not going to be a pleasant winter."

Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa face the most difficult months ahead due to their centralised heating systems.

Ms Mathernová added that the EU will be prepared in case a catastrophic scenario causes many to flee Ukraine - but said she does not expect this to be the case.

Overnight Russian attacks on the Sumy region have left two dead, the area’s military administration said.

Writing on Telegram, it said Russia fired 10 times at border areas with 38 explosions recorded.

Two civilians were killed and two more were wounded, it added according to Ukrainska Pravda.

Russia bombarded around eight settlements in northeastern Ukraine, including Sumy city.

Aerial bombs, mortars and first-person viewed (FPV) drones were used in the strikes.

More than 130 world leaders will meet at the United Nations next week, faced with wars in the Middle East and Europe threatening to spread, frustration at the slow pace of efforts to end those conflicts, and worsening climate and humanitarian crises.

While the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Russia’s war in Ukraine are set to dominate the annual high-level UN General Assembly, diplomats and analysts say they don’t expect progress toward peace.

“The wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan are going to be the three main crisis-points in focus at the General Assembly. I don’t think we are likely to see breakthroughs on any of them,” said Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres last week told Reuters that the wars in Gaza and Ukraine were “stuck with no peaceful solutions in sight.”

Volodymyr Zelensky will address the high-level General Assembly gathering for the third time since Russia invaded his country. He is due to address a meeting on Ukraine of the 15-member Security Council on Tuesday and the General Assembly on Wednesday.

My Zelensky has a plan to push Russia to diplomatically end the war that he wants to present to Joe Biden this month. He also wants to share it with both of Biden’s potential successors, Ms Harris and Mr Trump.

The Ukrainian air force said it shot down all 42 drones and one of four missiles used by Russia during an overnight attack.

“The air attack of the enemy was repulsed by aviation, anti-aircraft missile forces, mobile fire groups and units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine. As a result of the anti-aircraft battle, all 42 attack UAVs were shot down!” it said on the Telegram channel.

The threat posed by ballistic weapons was also being countered, the Ukrainian Air Force said, without providing details of any damage caused by the three missiles that were not intercepted.

Russian aerial assets were downed over a host of Ukrainian regions including Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv and Kherson.

Russia says it has taken back two more villages – Nikolayevo-Darino and Darino – from Ukrainian forces who seized control of part of the western Russian region of Kursk last month.

The claim came in a report by a senior Russian commander, Major General Apti Alaudinov, and there has been no response yet from Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces, which provides daily updates on frontline developments.

However, Russian advances in Kursk were seen in the past 24 hours, according to a US-based think tank.

“Russian forces recently recaptured territory in the Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast amid continued Russian counterattacks in the area on 18 September. Geolocated footage published on 17 and 18 September indicates that Russian forces recently advanced eastward along two forested areas southeast of Korenevo and south of Obukhovka (southeast of Korenevo),” said the Institute for the Study of War.

Artillery shells sold by Indian arms makers have been diverted by European customers to Ukraine and New Delhi has not intervened to stop the trade despite protests from Moscow, officials said.

At least 11 Indian and European government and defence industry officials, as well as a Reuters analysis of commercially available customs data, confirmed the trade of weapons, Reuters reported.

The transfer of munitions to support Ukraine’s defence against Russia has occurred for more than a year, according to the sources and the customs data. Indian arms export regulations limit the use of weaponry to the declared purchaser, who risks future sales being terminated if unauthorised transfers occur.

The Kremlin has raised the issue on at least two occasions, including during a July meeting between Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his Indian counterpart, three Indian officials said.

The foreign and defence ministries of Russia and India did not respond to questions. In January, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a news conference that India had not sent or sold artillery shells to Ukraine.

One elderly woman was killed and two other women were wounded by Russian strikes in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, governor Ivan Fedorov said today.

Russian forces shelled the region 161 times over the past 24 hours, damaging infrastructure facilities and residential buildings, he said on Telegram.

Russians lashed out against their own authorities online on Wednesday after the town of Toropets was hit in a Ukrainian drone attack yesterday, blowing up a critical ammunition depot.

“Why wasn’t the ammunition underground?! What are you doing???? In Kudino, houses were blown away! Why is the forest burning and no one is there... What kind of negligence is this!!!!” one woman posted on a Toropets chatroom on the social media sit VK.

Some war bloggers asked how drones could trigger such large blasts at what was thought to be a highly fortified facility.

“Russian milbloggers largely criticised Russian authorities for poorly constructing the facility and accused Russian forces of possibly mishandling missiles and artillery ammunition stockpiles at the facility,” the Institute for the Study of War said.

Messages of support from other parts of the country and offers of help to people fleeing the town were also there.

Some people were asking whether buildings at specific addresses were still standing. “People, does anyone know what’s happened to Kudino village??? They told me nothing is left of our house,” posted one woman.

Another woman replied: “It’s horror there.” Kudino is a village 4.5km (2.8 miles) northeast of Toropets.

US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris plans to meet Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington next week, a person familiar with the matter said.

Donald Trump has also said he will “probably” meet Volodymyr Zelensky, who will be in the US next week to address a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Russia’s war in his country.

“Probably, yes,” Mr Trump said in response to a question from a reporter about whether he will meet the Ukrainian leader. Trump did not provide further details.

In recent months, some other world leaders who have visited the US for summits and meetings with president Biden have ended up meeting with Trump as well. Trump faces Democratic vice president Kamala Harris in the 5 November election.

Mr Zelensky said in August he wanted to present a peace plan to Mr Biden, Ms Harris and Mr Trump. While Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky talked over the phone in July, they have not talked in person since the Republican leader’s 2017-2021 term.

Volodymyr Zelensky says his “victory plan”, intended to bring peace to Ukraine while keeping the country strong and avoiding all “frozen conflicts”, was now complete after much consultation.

“Today, it can be said that our victory plan is fully prepared. All the points, all key focus areas and all necessary detailed additions of the plan have been defined,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

“The most important thing is the determination to implement it.

There was, he said, no alternative to peace, “no freezing of the war or any other manipulations that would simply postpone Russian aggression to another stage”.

Mr Zelensky pledged last month to present his plan to Joe Biden, presumably next week when he attends sessions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly.

While providing daily updates on the plan’s preparation, he has given few clues of the contents, indicating only that it aims to create terms acceptable to Ukraine, now locked in conflict with Russia for more than two and a half years.