Q: Putin said he will meet you if you come to Moscow.
Zelenskyy: He can come to Kyiv. I can’t go to Moscow when my country is under daily missile attacks. Putin just plays games to delay meetings. We can’t trust him — he even plays games with the US.
1/
Q: Do you think the possibility for a bilateral meeting is dead?
Zelenskyy: No. I told President Trump I’m ready for any meeting — bilateral or trilateral — but not in Russia. First ceasefire, then talks on security guarantees. I thank the US for joining those guarantees.
2/
Zelenskyy: We need pressure from the US. President Trump. Some Europeans keep buying Russian oil and gas. That must stop. Energy is Putin’s weapon. The White House has the power to take it away. 3/
Q: Did sanctions backfire after Modi met Putin, with Trump saying India and China went to the dark side?
Zelenskyy: No. I think tariffs on countries that keep making deals with Russia is the right idea.
4/
Q: What did you think when you saw Putin on the red carpet at the Alaska summit talking about Ukraine?
Zelenskyy: It was a pity Ukraine was not there. Trump gave Putin what he wanted — a meeting with the US president. Putin wants those images to show everyone.
5/
Q: Will European security guarantees mean thousands of troops, not US?
Zelenskyy: Any guarantees start with a strong Ukrainian army. Then US weapons — Patriots, long-range missiles, HIMARS — which only America has. EU and US generals understand this.
6/
Q: How about air support?
Zelenskyy: We need an air defense shield — not only systems but also jets. We use old F-16s, but they work. Better than nothing. We are thankful for everything.
7/
Q: Are you 100% confident the Trump administration will see you through to peace?
Zelenskyy: No. I think President Trump wants to finish this war and he can do it. But real peace means no new aggression in 6 months, a year, or 2 years. It must be lasting, with security.
8/
Q: What does victory look like in Ukraine?
Zelenskyy: Putin’s goal is to occupy Ukraine and destroy us. He failed. We still have our country. For him, victory is total occupation. For us, victory is survival — keeping our land, our identity, our independence.
9X
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Ukraine could soon run out of missiles to stop Russian drones.
Pentagon slowed deliveries in June, just as Russia launched record airstrikes.
Іf gaps persist, cities and power grids face blackouts and mass deaths. – FT
1/
After a readiness review of 10 systems, deliveries were paused or curbed: PAC-3 Patriot interceptors, dozens of Stingers, precision 155mm, 100+ Hellfires, and AIM missiles for NASAMS and F-16s. Irregular USAI batch buys leave gaps.
2/
Russia’s air war is surging: on Sunday it fired 805 Shahed/decoy drones and 13 cruise/ballistic missiles, killing 4.
This summer Russia averaged >5,200 drone launches per month; missiles fell slightly but still in the hundreds.
3/
Ukrainian Lt. Ovsianikov (49) lost his eye, nose, arm, and most fingers on his left hand when a Russian mortar hit near Borova, Kharkiv in 2023.
Shrapnel tore his face apart. 41 surgeries rebuilt him with titanium and rib grafts. “I am still a soldier”, he says – The Times. 1/
He lay blind and broken, ready to die. “I thought death would be a relief. Then I thought of my mum.”
Through the ringing he heard his men shout: “The commander is 300!” He realised he was alive. 2/
Surgeons rebuilt his skull with titanium, reshaped his nose with a rib, and used €6,000 of implants. He still faces more ops, including a prosthetic eye. 3/
Ukrainian photographer Sergey Melnitchenko shows how war changes lives in his project Along the Dnipro.
One of his portraits is Serhii, an Azovstal defender. Russians beat, starved and moved him between prisons. He spent 2 years in captivity and lost 30 kg - Kyiv Independent. 1/
Another portrait is Daria. Russian troops seized her in her village, accused her family of spying and sexually assaulted her.
Now she speaks out in Kyiv, urging other survivors of wartime sexual violence to come forward and seek justice. 2/
On July 8, 2024, Russian missiles destroyed part of Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt children’s hospital.
Melnitchenko photographed rescuers carrying children, injured doctors in bloodied corridors, and wrecked cars outside. The strike killed 33 and injured 121. 3/
Budanov, Ukraine Spy Chief: Ukraine for 2nd time in history disabled a Russian Black Sea Fleet vessel with an FPV drone.
Also, Budanov: Russia preparing for war with Europe by 2030, allocated $1.2T for rearmament, has cases of cannibalism in their army. 1/
Budanov: Ukraine managed to lock the Russian Black Sea Fleet at its permanent base.
Currently, this is Novorossiysk. The combat fleet does not sail farther than the Novorossiysk roadstead — only to launch missiles and quickly return. 2/
Budanov: The joint military exercises of Russian and Belarusian armed forces “West-2025” on the territory of Belarus are a planned event and currently do not pose a specific threat to Ukraine. 3/
Le Monde: Russian diplomacy mimics Soviet tactics: make extreme demands, allow symbolic talks, threaten, and offer minimal concessions.
Past agreements, like Budapest and Minsk, failed due to lack of enforcement, and Russia now frames any negotiation on its terms. 1/
Putin uses a mix of military action and diplomatic gestures to keep Europe anxious.
After meeting with Trump in Alaska in August 2025, Russian attacks in Ukraine resumed, including strikes on western cities and Kyiv, while Moscow claimed interest in negotiations. 2/
In September, Putin attended a Beijing military parade with Xi Jinping and other leaders, warning that Western forces in Ukraine would be legitimate targets, showing Russia is not isolated. 3/