Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Zelensky to address G-7 as strikes renew call for air defenses
Russia strikes Ukraine cities after Crimea bridge explosion
Air raid sirens sounded around Ukraine early Tuesday including in the capital, Kyiv, a day after strikes killed 19 people and injured 105 more, emergency services said. Western allies were quick to condemn the attacks, but it was not clear whether they would speed up or expand their military aid as the pace of conflict escalates.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to address an emergency virtual meeting of the Group of Seven nations Tuesday to push for better air defense systems and longer-range weapons. His calls intensified after the strikes tore through Ukraine’s streets and knocked out power, as Russia pledged retaliation for a blast on a strategic bridge to Crimea.
4:19 AM: Ukrainians fear U.S. midterms could upset flow of aid and weapons
KYIV, Ukraine — As American officials pore over maps tracking developments in Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia, their Ukrainian counterparts are monitoring a different kind of contest back in the United States: the upcoming midterm congressional elections.
In Kyiv, Ukrainians voice hope, and some apprehension, that next month’s legislative polls won’t undercut the staggering flow of U.S. weapons and security aid that Washington has authorized since the start of President Vladimir Putin’s Feb 24. invasion. And they warn that a softening of Republican sentiment has the potential to sap a recent surge in battlefield momentum.
Uncertainty about future American support is intensifying as pollsters predict that Republicans will retake control of the House of Representatives. Some Republican lawmakers and candidates have expressed displeasure with giant aid sums, citing competing security concerns about China, domestic priorities, and the need for greater oversight.
Read the full story
By: Missy Ryan
4:01 AM: Analysis from Missy Ryan, Reporter covering diplomacy and national security
Twenty-four hours after the first strikes slammed into central Kyiv, people in the Ukrainian capital woke up to an air raid alert. Along with dozens of other visitors — mostly aid workers, journalists and other foreigners — I hustled down to the basement of the hotel where I’m staying, now serving as a makeshift bomb shelter. Everyone down here is monitoring their air raid apps — now showing alerts for all of Ukraine, except the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula — and sharing information about what we’re hearing about possible incoming strikes. Kyiv authorities are reporting that air defenses in the region shot down at least one rocket.
3:31 AM: Ukraine war at a turning point with rapid escalation of conflict
In little more than a month, the war in Ukraine has turned abruptly from a grueling, largely static artillery battle expected to last into the winter, to a rapidly escalating, multilevel conflict that has challenged the strategies of the United States, Ukraine and Russia.
Russia’s launch of massive strikes on civilian infrastructure Monday in nearly a dozen Ukrainian cities far from the front lines brought shock and outrage. The strikes, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken described as “wave after wave of missiles” struck “children’s playgrounds and public parks,” left at least 14 killed and nearly 100 wounded, and cut electricity and water in much of the country.
“By launching missile attacks on civilians sleeping in their homes or rushing toward children going to schools, Russia has proven once again that it is a terrorist state that must be deterred in the strongest possible ways,” Ukraine’s United Nations Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said at the opening of a General Assembly session scheduled before the assault to promote world condemnation of Moscow.
The attacks were the latest of many head-spinning events — from Ukrainian victories on the ground to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat of nuclear weapons use — that have changed the nature and tempo of the war in recent weeks, and raised questions about whether the United States and its partners may have to move beyond the concept of helping Ukraine defend itself, and instead more forcefully facilitate a Ukrainian victory.
Read the full story
By: Karen DeYoung
2:59 AM: Biden speaks with Zelensky, vows to continue needed support
President Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday and “expressed his condemnation” of Russia’s missile strikes across Ukraine, according to a statement from the White House. Biden also vowed to keep supplying the country with “the support needed to defend itself” from Russian forces, including advanced air defense systems, according to the statement.
The call comes shortly after Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv and other urban centers in what Russian President Vladimir Putin described as retaliation for the Saturday’s destruction of a strategically and symbolically important bridge connecting Russia to Crimea, a part of Ukraine that Moscow annexed in 2014.
Biden’s assurances to Zelensky also come amid concerns that U.S. support to Ukraine could diminish if Republicans take control of the U.S. Congress after midterm elections next month. While Biden, Democrats and some Republican congressional leaders have vowed to keep funding Ukraine’s effort, Republicans on the campaign trail have increasingly criticized the effort’s multibillion price tag and uncertain end.
By: Azi Paybarah
2:45 AM: U.K. prime minister to urge G-7 leaders to ‘stay the course’
© Reuters In a meeting Tuesday, British Prime Minister Liz Truss will urge G-7 leaders to uphold international support for Ukraine.British Prime Minister Liz Truss is expected to use Tuesday’s Group of Seven meeting to urge fellow leaders to “stay the course” on international support for Ukraine, according to remarks released by officials ahead of the meeting.
“The overwhelming international support for Ukraine’s struggle stands in stark opposition to the isolation of Russia on the international stage,” Truss is expected to say. “Nobody wants peace more than Ukraine. And for our part, we must not waver one iota in our resolve to help them win it.”
The leaders of top industrialized nations are holding an emergency virtual meeting as the conflict in Ukraine rapidly escalates. Russia’s launch of massive strikes on about a dozen Ukrainian cities Monday drew global condemnation, and renewed pleas from Ukraine for military aid.
G-7 leaders are also expected to discuss the global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion, and a proposed international cap on the price of Russian oil to reduce the Kremlin’s revenue streams. Truss is expected to point to this as evidence of what the G-7 can do to constrain Russian President Vladimir Putin, and to “act as an economic NATO, defending our countries’ interests.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the world leaders virtually.
By: Rachel Pannett
2:17 AM: Air raid sirens sound across Ukraine; strikes on Zaporizhzhia
Air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine again Tuesday, a day after the Kremlin unleashed strikes on cities across the country in retaliation for a weekend blast that damaged a key bridge connecting Crimea with Russia.
In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, fresh attacks Tuesday morning struck an educational institution, a medical institution and residential buildings, according to officials.
“Unfortunately, there are victims,” a regional official, Anatoly Kurtev, wrote on Telegram, describing Russia as “a terrorist country.”
The Washington Post wasn’t immediately able to verify details of the strike.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog is concerned about shelling that has cut power to a nearby nuclear plant several times, risking a nuclear catastrophe. The Zaporizhzhia plant is occupied by Russian forces, and Kyiv has claimed that Ukrainian workers operating the facility have been subjected to intimidation and abuse.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, after he visited Kyiv last Thursday. The U.N. watchdog wants to establish a protective zone around the plant, which is one of the world’s biggest nuclear facilities.
By: Rachel Pannett
2:08 AM: Analysis from Isabelle Khurshudyan, Ukraine bureau chief
Along with everyone else in Ukraine this morning, I got an emergency alert to my phone warning that more missiles could be coming today and that we should seek underground shelter. Ukrainians have become so used to air-raid alerts that they’re routinely ignored. Yesterday’s series of strikes was a terrible wake-up call.
1:50 AM: Ukraine’s envoy tells U.N. his family was affected by Russia’s attacks
© Andrea Renault/AFP/Getty Images Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya, speaks during a U.N. General Assembly meeting on Oct. 10.Delegates from Russia and Ukraine spoke before the United Nations General Assembly early Monday afternoon in New York — hours after a wave of Russian strikes ripped through Kyiv and across Ukraine.
Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, began his speech in the U.N. chamber by saying it was going to be a “difficult task” to speak. “It’s barely 4 p.m. in New York, but my day has started almost 14 hours ago,” he said.
“My country was under attack; my immediate family was in a residential building under attack, unable to go to a bomb shelter because there was no electricity,” Kyslytsya said. “Russia has already killed some of my family members, and we see no end to that cruelty.”
The emergency meeting of the General Assembly had been previously set for members to debate a potential resolution that would demand Moscow stop its moves to annex four regions in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Kyslytsya urged U.N. members to vote for the draft.
Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s representative to the United Nations, used his time to reiterate the Kremlin’s talking points on the invasion. He said Russia is “trying to protect our brothers and sisters in eastern Ukraine, their right to life … the right to speak their language, to teach their children their language, to honor the heroes who liberated their lands from fascism.” He said the “absolute majority” of those who voted in referendums chose to join Russia.
The 193-member U.N. General Assembly on Monday also rejected a proposal from Russia to hold a secret ballot, rather than a public one, on whether to condemn via resolution Russia’s actions on referendums and annexations in Ukraine — with 107 votes in favor and 13 against. Others abstained or did not vote. A representative for Albania spoke out against Russia’s request, saying it threatened transparency.
By: Sammy Westfall
1:24 AM: After Putin’s ‘massive strike’ shatters calm, Kyiv voices defiance
© Roman Hrytsyna/AP A medical worker moves past a burning car after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv on Monday.KYIV, Ukraine — The first blasts of the day hit at a central intersection during the downtown morning rush hour, killing a police officer driving to work, and leaving several cars mangled and in flames near a historic university complex and the country’s Education Ministry. Another hit one of the capitals most popular parks; another struck next to a pedestrian and bicycle bridge beloved by tourists.
The wave of Russian airstrikes that rocked Kyiv on Monday morning shattered months of calm, thrusting the city back into the center of the nearly eight-month-old war.
Many of the city’s normal rhythms had resumed after Russia’s effort to invade the capital and topple the Ukrainian government failed in the spring.
And across the city Monday, Ukrainians expressed anger and fear over the strikes that slammed into civilian sites in retaliation for a blast on Saturday that damaged the Crimean Bridge, a highly strategic link between mainland Russia and the illegally annexed Crimea region.
Read the full story
By: Missy Ryan and Kostiantyn Khudov
1:23 AM: Russia launched 84 missiles in Ukraine on Monday, Zelensky says
Russia launched 84 missiles and 24 drones in Ukraine on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address.
Of those, 43 missiles and 13 drones were shot down, he said, adding that residents across the country should heed air alarms because “the danger is still there.” As a result of the strikes, Ukraine faced large-scale blackouts, and energy crews are working to restore power to all regions, Zelensky said, urging people to use electricity only as necessary.
He gave his Monday night address from Kyiv, standing in front of rubble, with cranes and crew members working behind him as he noted the different buildings that were damaged by the strikes. And at one point, the camera moved from Zelensky to clips of a destroyed children’s playground nearby.
“Who can rejoice at strikes on such objects and such land?” he said.
Nearing the end of his address, Zelensky reassured Ukrainians that the country was working to get modern air-defense systems and strengthen its forces.
“Ukraine cannot be intimidated,” he said. “We are united even more instead.”
By: Praveena Somasundaram
1:20 AM: Strikes on Ukraine raise pressure on allies to send advanced air defense
BRUSSELS — The string of strikes against Ukrainian cities and key infrastructure on Monday galvanized long-standing calls from the government to its allies for more sophisticated air defense systems and longer-range weapons.
The Russian attacks appeared to signal a significant escalation, raising pressure on the United States and other European countries that have been slow to provide Ukrainian forces with the most advanced weapons systems.
While a chorus of U.S. and European leaders condemned the attacks and declared their continued support for Ukraine, it was not clear that they would accelerate or expand their deliveries.
Read the full story
By: Emily Rauhala, Rick Noack, Loveday Morris and Alex Horton
Post a Comment