Russia Claims Gains in Ukraine as Lavrov Calls for Renewed Dialogue With U.S. at UN
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told delegates at the United Nations headquarters on Saturday that there is still hope for renewed Russian-American dialogue, particularly following the recent summit in Alaska. “We have some hopes for the continuation of the Russian-American dialogue, especially after the summit in Alaska,” Lavrov said during his speech. He suggested the Trump administration was taking a more “realistic” approach to resolving the ongoing war in Ukraine. “Russia and the US bear a special responsibility for the state of affairs in the world and for avoiding risks that could plunge humanity into a new war,” he added. Lavrov’s UN address came amid new battlefield claims by Moscow. The Russian military announced on Saturday that its forces had captured three more villages in eastern Ukraine: Derylove and Maiske in the Donetsk region, and Stepove in the Dnipropetrovsk region. These gains come as part of a continued Russian push in the southeast, with fighting intensifying in multiple directions. In response, Ukraine claimed to have successfully carried out a drone strike on an oil pumping facility in Russia’s Chuvashia region. A Ukrainian official told Reuters: “The SBU [Ukrainian Security Service] continues to impose sanctions on the Russian oil sector, which brings the aggressor country excess profits that go to the war against Ukraine.” Meanwhile, an overnight Russian artillery and drone barrage killed one person and wounded 12 others in Ukraine’s Kherson region, with rail infrastructure also damaged in the neighbouring Odesa region, Ukrainian officials said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that a Ukrainian delegation would travel to the U.S. in late September or early October for high-level arms negotiations. He also confirmed that Ukraine had already received one U.S.-made Patriot air defence system from Israel, with two more expected to arrive before the end of the year. Tensions remain high around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has experienced a four-day blackout, the longest since the war began in February 2022. Both Russia and Ukraine are blaming each other for the disruption at the Russian-occupied facility. Though the plant’s six reactors have been offline since early in the war, it still requires electricity to maintain cooling and safety systems to prevent reactor meltdown.