President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet President Donald Trump on Tuesday, but Ukraine’s hopes of a tough new sanctions package on Russia appear to be fading.
Despite intense lobbying by Kyiv and its European allies, the US leader has thus far refused to get tough with Vladimir Putin despite a string of alleged airspace violations by Russian aircraft and drones along Europe’s eastern flank.
It comes as the brutal struggle to hold the line in eastern Ukraine continues, where Russian forces exert pressure all along the front including around the crucial city of Pokrovsk.
Meanwhile in Moscow, Russian anti-aircraft units downed 33 Ukrainian drones headed for the capital overnight and into Tuesday morning, officials said.
Zelenskyy to address UN assembly
President Zelenskyy will address a UN General Assembly on Wednesday that has been dominated by discussion of the question of Palestinian statehood.
Beforehand, he will meet President Trump to discuss new sanctions on Russia, which the US leader had hinted at but hopes of which have recently faded.
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Ukrainian officials portrayed their work before President Zelenskyy’s arrival as pragmatic diplomacy rather than preparations for a make-or-break trip.
“New York is the platform every September. It’s a super important place to be,” first deputy foreign minister Sergiy Kyslytsya said.
“I wish it were more expedient, but you will never have easy solutions to the conflicts of this magnitude.
“So I think that we will not come back from New York, all of us, with easy solutions. And we will continue to work hard after New York.”
‘Drone wall’ for Europe
The mood in European capitals has been tense following a series of incursions into their airspace by Russian drones and aircraft – alleged to be deliberate.
British jets flew their first defence mission in Polish skies as part of a NATO mission after one such incident.
The EU’s foreign policy chief – former Estonia prime minister Kaja Kallas – said “every country has the right to defend itself and act accordingly” if Russian planes violate their airspace.
This was echoed by Yvette Cooper, the new UK foreign secretary. She said: “And if we need to confront planes that are operating in NATO airspace without permission then we will do so.
“The United Kingdom stands by our friends.”
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The parents of Callum Tindal-Draper, a British man who died on the battlefield in Ukraine in November, paid tribute to him on Sky News on Tuesday.
They praised him as someone who stood up to bullies, fighting in Ukraine’s foreign volunteer platoon.
Lithuania’s foreign minister called for Ukraine to be fully integrated into a plan to protect NATO’s borders with drones due to its experience pioneering cutting-edge technology in the heat of combat.
The EU is looking at how to create a “drone wall” along the EU’s eastern border – a project that has been infused with urgency following recent incidents.
“We have to bring this technology to the front line and to build it there, build it there so that it will be effective together with Ukrainians,” Kestutis Budrys said.
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Ukraine battlefield: The struggle for Pokrovsk
On the battlefield in Ukraine, Russia has claimed a number of advances as its troops continue to push along the frontline.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces captured the village of Pereizne in Donetsk, where Moscow has been grinding forward for months at the cost of heavy casualties.
Putin’s armies have long been trying to capture the rest of Donetsk, part of Ukraine’s industrial heartland that Russia claims as its own following a bogus referendum.
A chain of Ukrainian cities nicknamed the “fortress belt” has held the line there for more than a decade, but shortages of troops, supplies and chaotic management are making it increasingly hard to resist Russia’s relentless pressure.
But a Ukrainian commander says he’s confident Russia’s latest attempt to push through there won’t work.
“From a military point of view it looks correct – on the map it looks neat – but after nearly three-and-a-half years of war we all know that such deep manoeuvres and wide flanking operations are not Russia’s forte,” Colonel Pavlo Yurchuk told the Associated Press.
Col Yurchuk, whose troops are defending a small city at the northern end of the fortress belt, added: “They simply won’t be able to control and supply those penetrations, so I’m sure that they will fail.”
Meanwhile Pokrovsk, a crucial logistics hub for Kyiv, remains in Ukrainian hands for now despite its defenders facing months of unrelenting attack.
“Our warriors are marching forward,” the head of Ukraine’s armed forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said of the Pokrovsk front on Monday.
The commander-in-chief said in the previous day 1.3 square kilometres had been taken by Ukraine and Russian forces destroyed in a further 2.1 square kilometres.
Elsewhere, Russian aircraft attacked the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with glide bombs during the night, killing a man, regional head Ivan Fedorov said on Tuesday.
In Odesa, Russian ballistic missiles struck the town centre of Tatarbunary, killing a woman, regional head Oleh Kiper said.
Footage from Ukraine’s state emergency service shows firefighters battling flames in Zaporizhzhia.
Drones shot down on route to Moscow
Across the border, Ukraine’s aim to bring the war to Russia’s population continued overnight, with 33 drones downed as they headed for Moscow, officials claimed.
Kyiv’s drone armies have become a fact of life for Russia, with long-range UAVs causing havoc at oil refineries and airfields as Ukraine attempts to hamper the Kremlin’s war economy.
Flights were delayed and cancelled at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, the country’s largest by passenger numbers, following the drone attacks.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Telegram that its anti-aircraft units had destroyed 150 Ukrainian drones overnight and Tuesday morning.
As well as on route to Moscow, drones were reported shot down near Sevastopol in occupied Crimea and Tula region in central Russia.
Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday that it hit two Russian oil distribution facilities in Bryansk and Samara regions.
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