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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the United Nations Security Council during a ministerial-level meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, September 20, 2023 [Mike Segar/Reuters]
By Ted Regencia, Priyanka Shankar and Dalia Hatuqa
Published On 20 Sep 2023

This blog is now closed. Thanks for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war for Wednesday, September 20:

20 Sep 2023 - 20:18
 (20:18 GMT)

US air force commander in Mideast concerned of ‘burgeoning’ Iran-Russia ties

The US air force commander in the Middle East has warned of “burgeoning” military ties between Iran and Russia, saying shared drone technology was a particular concern.

Modified Iranian drones used by Moscow in its war in Ukraine could feed back to Iran, which in turn may employ them in its campaign to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich told a briefing in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

Washington accuses Iran of supplying Moscow with drones for use in Ukraine, a charge Tehran denies.

“I think there’s a risk that … as Russia accepts the drones from Iran, as it modifies those weapons, that some of that technology gets shared back with Iran [and] gives them additional capabilities,” Grynkewich, commander of the US Ninth Air Force, told reporters.

“I see the implications of that relationship playing out a little bit in Syria.”

20 Sep 2023 - 19:58
 (19:58 GMT)

Lavrov defends Russia’s use of veto power at UN

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has defended his country’s use of its veto power at the UN Security Council as a “legitimate tool” of international relations.

Lavrov was addressing the Security Council on Wednesday shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for stripping Russia of its veto power over Moscow’s war against its neighbour.

“The use of veto is an absolutely legitimate tool laid out in the [UN] Charter with the aim of preventing decisions that could lead to the organisation’s breakup,” Lavrov said.

20 Sep 2023 - 19:37
 (19:37 GMT)

Russia aiding North Korea is ‘direct provocation’: South Korean president

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has said that if Russia helped North Korea enhance its weapons programmes in return for assistance for its war in Ukraine, it would be “a direct provocation” and Seoul and its allies would not stand idly by.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Yoon said such a scenario would threaten the peace and security of not only Ukraine but also South Korea.

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes were not only an existential threat to South Korea, but a serious challenge to peace in the Indo-Pacific region and across the globe, Yoon said.

20 Sep 2023 - 19:13
 (19:13 GMT)

Four killed by Russian shelling in eastern Ukraine: General Prosecutor Office

Russian forces shelled the city of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine, killing four people, the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office has said.

The office, in a report on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday, said that two people had died inside the city and two more in the adjacent town of Pivnichne.

20 Sep 2023 - 18:50
 (18:50 GMT)

Ukraine foreign ministry urges ‘calm’ in Kyiv-Warsaw import spat

Ukraine’s foreign ministry has called for calm in the dispute pitting Kyiv against three of its neighbours over their decision to impose unilateral ban on Ukrainian farm imports.

On Wednesday, Poland summoned Kyiv’s envoy to the foreign ministry, after comments by Ukraine’s president on a ban on grain imports angered the government in Warsaw, which is toughening its stance in advance of October elections.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko, writing on Facebook, said, “We urge our Polish friends to put aside their emotions. The Ukrainian side has offered Poland a constructive path to resolve the grain issue.”

Nikolenko said Ukraine’s ambassador explained Kyiv’s position on the “unacceptability” of the Polish ban and suggested Kyiv’s proposals “will become the basis for moving the dialogue into a constructive course”.

Ukraine’s ambassador, Nikolenko claimed, also underlined the “incorrectness” of remarks by Polish President Andrzej Duda in New York that Ukraine should remember that it receives help from Poland. Duda had likened Kyiv to a “drowning person”.

20 Sep 2023 - 18:27
 (18:27 GMT)

US philanthropist Howard Buffet warns of Ukraine ‘fatigue’

US businessman and philanthropist Howard Buffett has said Western public interest in the war in Ukraine could wane in the coming year, and that he may step up his own support for Ukraine to set an example.

Buffett, whose foundation has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion and who is the son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, cited the US presidential campaign as one of the possible reasons why public interest could flag.

“I do have concerns about whether people can maintain the level of interest in [Ukraine]. Particularly, in the US one of the drawbacks will be the political campaign that we’re going into,” he told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv.

The United States holds a presidential election in November 2024 and several Republican candidate hopefuls have questioned the vast military and financial aid supplied to Kyiv, calling into question Washington’s future stance.

Buffett said the idea that Ukraine “fatigue” could set in among the public in the West showed that Kyiv’s allies should double down on their support.

20 Sep 2023 - 18:10
 (18:10 GMT)

Premature to discuss Nord Stream future: Russian Deputy PM

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has said that it was premature to discuss the future of the damaged Nord Stream gas pipelines in the “current situation”.

The two pipelines, designed to carry Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, were ruptured in unexplained blasts a year ago. They have been idle ever since, and it remains unclear who was responsible.

20 Sep 2023 - 17:45
 (17:45 GMT)

Zelenskyy to meet Lula in NYC in first get-together

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York City on Wednesday, as the wartime leader seeks to enlist Brazil’s backing in its conflict with Russia.

This first get-together between Zelenskyy and Lula, who will also meet with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, has been months in the making. The Ukrainian government asked for the meeting after the two men did not meet at the G7 summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima earlier this year.

Lula has advocated the creation of a group of nations to mediate an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, but in May he stated that both Moscow and Kyiv were to blame for the conflict, angering the United States and European states who back Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion.

Last month, the Brazilian leftist leader told reporters neither Zelenskyy nor Russian President Vladimir Putin were ready for peace.

20 Sep 2023 - 17:25
 (17:25 GMT)

UN expert urges US to reconsider supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions

A United Nations expert has urged the United States to reconsider its decision to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions, saying these could harm civilians even decades after the end of the conflict there.

In a letter to the US government and President Joe Biden published on Wednesday, Alice Jill Edwards, a UN special rapporteur, said that cluster munitions “indiscriminately and seriously injure civilians both at the time of use and in post-conflict” and should not be used.

“I respectfully urge Your Excellency’s Government to reconsider the decision to transfer cluster munitions and to halt any plan towards the implementation of such decision,” Edwards, the special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, wrote in the letter.

The publication of the letter, dated July 14, comes days after US officials said the Biden administration was close to approving the shipment of longer-range missiles packed with cluster bombs to Ukraine to give Kyiv the ability to cause significant damage deeper within Russian-occupied territory.

20 Sep 2023 - 17:06
 (17:06 GMT)

Zelenskyy: Support for Ukraine is tantamount to defence of UN Charter

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has justified arming Kyiv, imposing sanctions on Moscow and support for UN resolutions as actions to defend the founding UN Charter.

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said: “Ukraine exercises its right to self-defence.

“Helping Ukraine with weapons in this exercise, by imposing sanctions and exerting comprehensive pressure on the aggressor, as well as voting for relevant resolutions, would mean helping to defend the UN Charter.”

Ukraine and Western countries have successfully isolated Russia diplomatically at the UN, where the 193-member General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted several times to condemn the invasion and demand Moscow withdraw its troops, saying Moscow violated the 1945 UN Charter.

20 Sep 2023 - 16:43
 (16:43 GMT)

Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov dismisses reports that he’s in poor health

The official social media channel of Ramzan Kadyrov, strongman leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic and strong ally of President Vladimir Putin, has showed a video of him and dismissed social media reports that he was in poor health.

When asked about the reports, which alleged that the 46-year-old had been treated at a Moscow hospital, the Kremlin said this week that it had no information on the subject.

But a video posted on Kadyrov’s Telegram channel on Wednesday showed him sitting at the bedside of a man said to be “our dear uncle Magomed Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov” and kissing him on the hand and head. It was not clear when the video had been shot.

“Praise be to the Almighty, I am alive and well and I don’t understand at all why there should be a fuss even in the case of my illness?” read the posting, purportedly written by Kadyrov himself.

Ramzan Kadyrov has dismissed social media reports that he was in poor health [File: Chingis Kondarov/Reuters]
20 Sep 2023 - 16:26
 (16:26 GMT)

All 32 states who spoke at the World Court back Kyiv’s genocide claim

All 32 states who spoke at the World Court on Wednesday have urged judges to determine that it has jurisdiction in a case brought by Kyiv alleging that Russia abused the Genocide Convention to provide a pretext for the invasion of Ukraine.

The states asked to take the case forward to the merits stage. This unprecedented number of intervening countries is a strong show of support for Kyiv, which said it will seek reparations if the court’s final ruling is in its favour.

Some 150 states have signed the Genocide Convention and as such have an interest in how it should be interpreted by the court.

The UK’s attorney general, Victoria Prentis, told journalists after the hearing that she “very much hopes” the court will rule the case can go forward.

20 Sep 2023 - 15:58
 (15:58 GMT)

At UN Security Council, Zelenskyy proposes ‘specific actions’ to end hostilities with Russia

Addressing the UN Security Council’s special session on the war in Ukraine, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Ukrainian soldiers are now doing with their blood what the UN Security Council should do with their votes: stopping aggression and defending the principles of the UN Charter.

Zelenskyy then went on to propose “specific actions” that should be implemented by the UNSC.

“Firstly, there should be complete withdrawal of all Russian troops and military formations, including the Russian Black Sea Fleet or those leaky troughs that will remain from it during the war, as well as the withdrawal of all Russian mercenaries and quasi-military formations from the entire sovereign territory of Ukraine within our internationally recognised borders 1991 year,” he said.

“Secondly, Ukraine should hold effective control over our entire state border and exclusive economic zone in the Black and Azov Seas, as well as in the Kerch Strait once again. Only the fulfillment of these two points will result in a fair, reliable and complete cessation of hostilities.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, at United Nations headquarters in New York City, the US [File: Mary Altaffer/AP]
20 Sep 2023 - 15:48
 (15:48 GMT)

The UN is ‘at a dead end regarding aggressions’, says Zelenskyy

Addressing the special session of the UN Security Council focusing on Moscow’s actions in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the United Nations is at a dead end regarding aggressions.

“Everyone in the world can see what exactly makes the UN ineffective. In this seat in the Security Council, which Russia occupies illegally due to behind-the-scenes manipulations after the collapse of the Soviet Union, sit liars whose job it is to justify the aggression and genocide committed by Russia,” he said.

“The veto in the hands of the aggressor is what drove the UN into a dead end. No matter who you are, the existing UN system still makes you less than the veto power that only a few have and that is used by one – Russia – to the detriment of all other UN members,” he explained.

“Many years of talks and projects on reforming the UN should become a process of reforming the UN. The use of the veto is what needs reform, and this could be a key reform,” he added.

20 Sep 2023 - 15:38
 (15:38 GMT)

Russia’s war in Ukraine ‘aggravating geopolitical tensions’, UN chief says

The special session of the United Nations Security Council focussing on Russia’s war in Ukraine has begun.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Council that Russia’s war in Ukraine “is aggravating geopolitical tensions and divisions, threatening regional stability, increasing the nuclear threat, and creating deep fissures in our increasingly multipolar world”.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US [File: Mike Segar/Reuters]
20 Sep 2023 - 15:29
 (15:29 GMT)

Ukrainian trade representative says compromise possible in trade dispute

Ukraine’s trade representative has said he believed compromise was possible in a trade dispute with some of the country’s neighbours and that he expected a “balancing” of the situation by Friday.

“This working week, so Friday, we can expect to reach a certain balancing of the situation,” he said in televised comments. “By Friday I think we can consolidate the positions of all five countries with regard to transferring to the [compromise] mechanism we have proposed.”

20 Sep 2023 - 15:20
 (15:20 GMT)

Zelenskyy aide says UNGA is ‘an ideal place’ for countries to clarify positions on issues

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the the United Nations General Assembly is an ideal place to synchronise watches, clarify positions and understand which way the world is moving today.

“Despite the difference in vision of approaches, the world is united in basic things: Russia has to lose; Ukraine’s restoration of territorial integrity is imperative for restoring respect for international law,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

20 Sep 2023 - 15:01
 (15:01 GMT)

Ukrainian forces hit Russian fleet command post in Crimea: military

Ukrainian forces have attacked a Russian Black Sea fleet command post near Sevastopol in Crimea, the Ukrainian military said.

The military gave no further details except to say the attack was successful.

Earlier, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol said a missile attack on the city had been prevented. Russia seized and annexed Crimea in 2014.

20 Sep 2023 - 14:29
 (14:29 GMT)

US plans big Ukraine aid announcement

US President Joe Biden plans to announce a significant military aid package for Ukraine on Thursday to coincide with a visit to Washington by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a US official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

Zelenskyy is in the US for the UN General Assembly and is also expected to attend a special UN Security Council meeting to discuss the “maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine”.

US President Joe Biden, left, walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at St Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral during an unannounced visit, in Kyiv, Ukraine [File: Evan Vucci/AP]
20 Sep 2023 - 14:14
 (14:14 GMT)

Ukraine wants to end food import dispute through negotiations: Official

Ukraine wants to reach an understanding with neighbouring countries on imports of agricultural products through negotiations, trade representative Taras Kachka has said.

“Ukraine wants to avoid a lengthy court [process] in the WTO [World Trade Organization] framework and to reach an understanding through negotiations,” Kachka added in a statement released by Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged Poland to “set aside emotions” as the trade dispute between the two countries mounts.

“We urge our Polish friends to put aside their emotions. The Ukrainian side has offered Poland a constructive path to resolve the grain issue,” foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said in a Facebook post.