Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will take the podium at the UN for the first time on Tuesday, September 19, attracting all the attention in a fragmented world shaken by serial crises, in particular the invasion of his country by the Russia. A year ago, he was exceptionally authorized to intervene via a video message. This time, he will be there in person, for the high-level session of the annual United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday and a special meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday, before leaving for Washington where he will be received at the White House on Thursday .
“For us, it is very important that our words, all our messages, are heard by our partners,” he declared Monday while meeting Ukrainian soldiers injured at the front in a New York hospital. “Ukraine will present a concrete proposal to UN member states on how to strengthen the principle of territorial integrity and improve the UN’s ability to thwart and stop aggression,” he said. on X (formerly Twitter).
Ukraine: drone attack in Lviv, explosions heard
Drones attacked the western Ukrainian city of Lviv early Tuesday, where authorities reported a warehouse fire and at least one person injured. Several waves of drones were heard from 01:30 GMT, as well as explosions and the passage of heavy vehicles in the streets during the curfew in force, according to an AFP journalist on site.
The Ukrainian Air Force had indicated that drones were attacking the city and that air defenses were operating in the region. Russia frequently uses Iranian-made Shahed-type drones to attack cities in Ukraine. “Explosions are heard. As a result of a strike on Lviv, a fire broke out in an industrial warehouse,” Lviv Mayor Andriï Sadovyi wrote on Telegram. “So far, we are aware of one injured person,” he said later, explaining that it was a 26-year-old man “found under the rubble of a warehouse.” He was taken to hospital, according to Andriï Sadovyi.
Moscow and Beijing have “similar” positions on the United States and Ukraine, according to the Kremlin
Moscow and Beijing are on the same line regarding the United States and the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday. In a press release published following an exchange between the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the ministry recalled the close ties that unite the two countries. The text underlines their “similar” positions in the face of “US actions on the international scene, including those of an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese nature.”
“The parties discussed in detail the current state of the situation in Ukraine, noting the futility of attempts to resolve the crisis without taking into account Russia’s interests and, even more so, without Russia’s participation” , explains the document. Wang Yi has been in Russia since Monday for security discussions. His visit is scheduled to last until Thursday. It is the latest in a series of high-level meetings between the two allies. Furthermore, Sergei Lavrov informed his Chinese counterpart of the “main results” of the visit to Russia by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from September 12 to 17, while Wang Yi informed him of his discussions with Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor to United States President Joe Biden.
Kim Jong-un returns to North Korea after trip to Russia
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un returned to North Korea after his official visit to Russia which “opened a new chapter” in relations between Pyongyang and Moscow, according to the North Korean agency KCNA on Tuesday. Kim Jong Un “completed his official visit to the Russian Federation and passed through Tumangang Railway Station, the border station, early Monday morning,” according to KCNA.
During the six-day visit, Kim Jong-un “deepened the bonds of camaraderie and friendship with Russian President Putin […] and opened a new chapter in the development of relations between the DPRK and Russia,” the agency writes, using the acronym of North Korea’s official name.
Focused on defense, the trip of the North Korean number one in the Russian Far East revealed potential military links between the two countries, Kim Jong Un having reviewed a number of equipment such as Russian space rockets or submarines. -sailors. The two men went so far as to symbolically offer each other a rifle. The trip revived Western fears that Pyongyang, isolated and nuclear-armed, could supply Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine.
Berlin announces new aid to Ukraine, delays on the Taurus
Germany will provide Ukraine with a new package of essentially military aid worth 400 million euros but has not yet decided on the delivery of long-range Taurus missiles insisted on by Kiev, announced Monday the Minister of Defense. This new tranche of aid includes different types of ammunition because it is “what Ukraine needs most”, Minister Boris Pistorius told the newspaper Bild, on the eve of a meeting of Ukraine’s allies. Ukraine in Germany.
“The government has not yet decided whether it will send Taurus cruise missiles,” the minister added. Ukrainian officials have been urging Germany for several months to deliver Taurus cruise missiles deemed necessary to repel the Russian army, in the midst of a counter-offensive by kyiv’s troops. “We are providing additional munitions: explosive munitions, mortar munitions, anti-mine rockets,” Boris Pistorius told the daily Bild.
Meeting between Lula and Zelensky on Wednesday in New York (Brazilian presidency)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday in New York, after their missed meeting at the G7 summit in May, the Brazilian presidency told AFP on Monday. “This meeting will take place after the bilateral meeting” of Lula with American President Joe Biden, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, explained the presidential communications service.
Relations between the two leaders are strained, with Lula having repeatedly said responsibility for the conflict in Ukraine was shared, although he recently condemned the Russian invasion. In May, a bilateral meeting between the Brazilian president and Volodymyr Zelensky was planned during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, but it ultimately did not take place, officially due to an incompatibility of agendas. The Ukrainian president then declared that his Brazilian counterpart was certainly “disappointed” by this missed meeting, to which Lula retorted that he was “not disappointed”, but “upset”.