Array
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As the war dominated the first in-person UN general assembly meeting in two years, EU foreign ministers agreed on new sanctions on Russia, a major prisoner swap was announced and more than 1,300 Russians were arrested for demonstrating against Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilisation.
Here are the latest developments, as of 7.30am Kyiv time:
Russia is set to face direct pressure at the United Nations on Thursday over its invasion of Ukraine, whose leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appealed to the world to punish Moscow. Agence France-Presse reports.
The partial mobilisation announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin will not generate significant extra combat capability for months, the Institute for the Study of War writes in its latest report. The thinktank’s analysts also believe Putin comments about nuclear weapons did not mean he would use them to defend annexed areas of Ukraine.
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said Wednesday he met with Ukraine’s and Russia’s foreign ministers in a bid to establish a safety and security zone around a nuclear plant in south-eastern Ukraine that is Europe’s largest, AP reports.
North Korea has denied it is providing arms to Russia, state media said, weeks after the US said Moscow was turning to Pyongyang to replenish its stocks depleted by invading Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reports.
Liz Truss has dismissed as “sabre-rattling” Vladimir Putin’s warning that Russia will use “all the means at our disposal” to protect itself, warning in her UN speech: “This will not work.”
The Russian president’s threats in a televised address to the nation appeared to suggest the conflict in Ukraine could spiral into a nuclear crisis, prompting a furious response from world leaders, led by the US president, Joe Biden.
The new UK prime minister, who addressed the UN in New York hours after a virtual speech by the Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urged world leaders not to “let up” on dealing with Putin despite domestic concerns about soaring energy prices.
