Batbricks7

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to world leaders to keep his country's fight against Russia's invasion a top priority in his address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

Zelensky raised to Spectre of a global nuclear disaster at the start of his speech, saying Russia was "planning attacks on our nuclear power plants" in order to further hobble Ukraine's energy supply.

He cited an "alarming" intelligence report but did not disclose further details.

"Any missile or drone strike, any critical incident in the energy system, could lead to a nuclear disaster," Zelensky said. "A day like that must never come.

Moscow needs to understand this, and this depends in part on your determination to put pressure on the aggressor."

"If, God forbid, Russia causes a nuclear disaster at one of our nuclear power plants, radiation will not respect state borders," he continued.

Zelensky also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to wear down Ukrainians by leaving them "in the dark and cold this winter."

"Since Russia can't defeat our people's resistance on the battlefield, Putin is looking for other ways to break the Ukrainian spirit," he told world leaders in a speech that lasted 20 minutes.
Zelensky said Russia had destroyed all of Ukraine's thermal power plants and "a large part" of the country's hydroelectric capacity.

In all, Russia has inflicted damage on 80% of the energy infrastructure, he said.

"This is how Putin is preparing for winter hoping to torment millions of Ukrainians, ordinary families, women, children, ordinary towns, ordinary villages.

Putin wants to leave them in the dark and cold this winter, forcing Ukraine to suffer and surrender."

"I think every leader, every country that supports us sees how Russia, a country more than 20 times larger than Ukraine in territory, still wants even more land," he said.

The Ukrainian leader went on to describe Iran and North Korea, which have been accused of supplying Russia with weapons, as accomplices in Moscow's war.

He also once again firmly rejected a Sino-Brazilian peace initiative during his speech.

The plan put forward by China and Brazil effectively calls for a freezing of the war along the current front line.

Zelensky told the General Assembly that the world had seen enough colonial wars conducted and that every country including China, Brazil, European nations, African nations and the Middle East understands why this must be a thing of the past.

Later on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden, together with international partners, reaffirmed his commitment to helping Ukraine rebuild.

"We're committed to providing Ukraine with the resources it needs to build back stronger than it was before," Biden said on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

Later on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden, together with international partners, reaffirmed his commitment to helping Ukraine rebuild.

"We're committed to providing Ukraine with the resources it needs to build back stronger than it was before," Biden said on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

It is no secret that the Russian attacks have caused significant damage, the US leader said, but Ukraine is economically resilient.

At the Wednesday event, which was also attended by Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Biden presented a declaration by more than 30 countries and the EU in support of reconstruction.

The aim is to hold Russia accountable for the damage and to rebuild Ukraine in the long term.

"Today, we're launching a joint declaration of support for Ukraine recovery and reconstruction to make it clear we stand with Ukraine now and in the future," Biden said.

Zelensky arrived in the US on Sunday to pitch his "victory plan" for defeating Russia, with his speech at the UN in New York one of the trip's highest-profile moments.

He is scheduled to meet Biden and the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, in Washington on Thursday.

He is also set to meet lawmakers in Congress.

Zelensky is urging Washington and other allies to give the green light to use Western-supplied weapons to strike deep inside Russia.

Those authorizations have yet to come amid fears those types of attacks could escalate the two-and-a-half-year-old war.

Russia hits Ukraine's Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya regions

At least two people were killed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in a Russian attack using glide bombs, the governor of the Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin, said on Wednesday, adding that a dozen others were injured after residential buildings and a shop were damaged.

In the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhya, a 55-year-old man was killed and seven people were injured, the regional military governor said.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia used 32 drones and eight missiles in overnight attacks on Ukraine.

Most of the drones and half of the missiles were intercepted, it said on Wednesday morning.

Injuries after Ukrainian attack on Russian city of Belgorod

Five people were injured in a Ukrainian attack on the western Russian city of Belgorod, the local authorities there reported.

Four of them were taken to hospital, the region's governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced on his Telegram channel.

In his post he said that the large-scale attack had damaged a high-rise building and 75 smaller residential buildings.

In addition, dozens of vehicles, water and gas pipes were damaged, he said.

Russia has been systematically attacking civilian targets in Ukraine since it launched its full-scale invasion of the neighbouring country in February 2022.

In particular, Ukraine's energy supply facilities are repeatedly targeted by Russian drones, rockets and cruise missiles.