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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet British Prime Minister Andy Burnham in London on Wednesday as Ukraine seeks greater support to defend itself against Russia’s intensifying attacks. Ukraine and its European allies are working to strengthen the country’s defences amid growing Russian bombardment and uncertainty over the Trump administration’s commitment to supporting Kyiv in its war against Moscow, which began in February 2022. Burnham’s office said the UK would provide “urgent support” to Ukraine in the coming weeks and speed up deliveries of air defence missiles needed to protect the country ahead of the harsh winter. US President Donald Trump’s recent decisions have repeatedly raised concerns among Ukrainian and Western European leaders. Last week, Trump announced a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import large quantities of Russian diesel. The announcement came as Western countries continued efforts to impose sanctions on Russia and limit Putin’s international influence. It added to concerns in Kyiv and European capitals that Trump was moving closer to the Russian leader while distancing himself from Zelenskyy. Burnham, however, reaffirmed Britain’s commitment to Ukraine ahead of the Ukrainian president’s visit. “My message to the Ukrainian people could not be clearer, we are with you for as long as it takes, and we will go further and faster in our support to back your courageous fight for peace in Europe,” he said. Analysts said Trump’s latest move had strengthened European determination to continue supporting Ukraine. “Ahead of a tough winter for Ukraine, Donald Trump's swing back toward Russia bodes ill,” Rym Momtaz of Carnegie Europe wrote in an assessment on Tuesday. “But instead of panicking, Kyiv's European allies are focusing on action.” Britain, along with the European Union, is also considering further sanctions against Russia. London has urged Moscow to respect a partial ceasefire announced by Trump and stop attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is complying with the energy ceasefire. Burnham made Kyiv his first foreign destination after becoming prime minister in July, offering to share technology for producing long-range missiles with Ukraine. Russia subsequently accused Britain of taking part in the war on Ukraine’s side.  

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an “energy ceasefire” in their four-and-a-half-year war, but provided no details as Kyiv reported fresh Russian attacks on energy facilities. In a brief social media post, Trump said the ceasefire had taken effect immediately, adding, “Do not break it!” Moscow did not immediately comment on the announcement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed Trump's statement as “good news for everyone” but said Russian attacks on energy infrastructure continued in Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv. “Unfortunately, Ukrainian skies have been infested with Russian 'shaheds' all day today,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address, referring to Russian-launched drones. He also reported glide bomb attacks and strikes on energy facilities, including a power plant in Kharkiv. Zelenskyy's office confirmed that the Kharkiv attack occurred after Trump's announcement. The Ukrainian president said Kyiv was ready to stop attacking Russian energy facilities and expected Moscow to do the same. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure during the war, disrupting electricity, heating and water supplies in an effort to weaken public resistance to its invasion. Ukrainian officials have described the strategy as “weaponising winter”. Zelenskyy said Ukraine had proposed several measures to reduce tensions, but Russian President Vladimir Putin had rejected them all. He expressed hope that Putin would finally respond positively to appeals from the United States, Ukraine and the international community. Kyiv remains in contact with Washington, Zelenskyy said, thanking the US for its support. He also said he had discussed the latest developments with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. In an interview broadcast earlier Sunday on ABC's “This Week”, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared to stop striking Russian oil refineries if Moscow halted attacks on Ukraine's energy system. He urged Trump to press the Kremlin to accept the proposal. “We are asking President Trump, (to) give them (a) signal, not (to) attack energy infrastructure of Ukraine,” he said. On September 14, Trump had also claimed that the two countries agreed not to attack each other's energy infrastructure, but provided no details. Zelenskyy had expressed willingness to comply if Russia did the same, but the proposal did not lead to an agreement. Trump, Zelenskyy clash over elections Trump said Saturday that Ukraine should elect a new president, arguing that Zelenskyy had failed to do enough to end the war. He also blamed the Ukrainian leader for high diesel prices in the United States. In response, Zelenskyy said Ukraine could hold elections if Russia agreed to a 60-day ceasefire. “Give us two months, 60 days off. Total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organize elections,” he said, adding that he would accept whatever choice Ukrainian voters made. “With all respect to President Trump, it's up to our society, up to our people to choose one or another leader,” Zelenskyy said. He added that holding elections during the war would be unlawful under the current legal framework and that security guarantees would be needed to ensure safe voting. Ukraine has been under martial law since Putin launched the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The country's constitution prohibits elections while martial law remains in force and allows the president to stay in office until a successor is sworn in. Organising a nationwide vote would also be difficult because Russia controls roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, millions of Ukrainians have fled abroad and many soldiers remain on the front line. Zelenskyy's presidential term formally expired in May 2024. The exchange came as Ukraine continued its campaign against Russian infrastructure. A Ukrainian drone strike on Sunday shut down a data centre operated by technology company Yandex in the Russian city of Vladimir, east of Moscow. It was the third attack on the company's facilities in four days. Russia and Ukraine have continued long-range aerial attacks while fighting on the front line has remained largely deadlocked. Trump, who announced a deal with Putin on Friday to purchase Russian diesel to help lower fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections, has repeatedly urged Zelenskyy to stop attacks on Russian energy facilities. He has blamed Ukraine for record-high US diesel prices rather than the US-led war in Iran, which has pushed up global energy costs. Ukrainian and European officials criticised the proposed diesel deal, saying it would help finance Russia's war effort. Ukrainian strike disrupts Russian digital services The Ukrainian drone attack on Yandex's data centre in Vladimir disrupted several of the company's services, leaving users in dozens of Russian cities, as well as in Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia, unable to order taxis or access banking services, according to Russian independent news outlet Astra. “Operations at the data center have been completely halted. There were no injuries,” Yandex Cloud said on its Telegram channel, which provides service updates. The disruption affected everyday activities in Moscow. Pavel Belyavskiy, a Yandex Taxi driver, said he was unsure whether ride requests were coming through and had to cancel several trips after waiting for passengers he could not contact. “I'd press the 'call' button to contact them, but nothing happens,” he said. “There's nothing I can do, so I'm just forced to cancel.” Igor Mann said he could not access an order on Yandex Market, the company's shopping platform. Using a virtual private network did not solve the problem. “Nothing worked,” he said. Another Moscow resident, Eduard Malyavko, said the outages had a “direct impact” on daily life beyond simple inconvenience, affecting areas including healthcare. The latest attack followed two other strikes on Yandex facilities. A drone attack on Thursday disrupted a data centre in Russia's Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow. Ukrainian drones struck another major Yandex data centre in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, the following day, disabling part of the facility, the company said. Often described as Russia's equivalent of Google, Yandex operates the country's most popular search engine and a wide range of digital services. It is also heavily involved in Russia's artificial intelligence development. Death toll from Zaporizhzhia bombing rises to 23 Elsewhere, search and rescue operations ended in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia following a Russian bombing on Saturday, according to Ivan Fedorov, a former regional head and co-chair of the regional defence council. Zelenskyy said 23 people, including four children, were killed in the attack. More than 30 others were injured, Fedorov said, adding that eight remained in hospital. In Russia, a man was killed and two women were injured in a Ukrainian drone strike in the border region of Bryansk, local officials said Sunday.

Russian strikes killed at least seven people, including three children, in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, officials said Saturday, a day after US President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy diesel from Russia that Kyiv warned could help finance Moscow's war. Russian aerial bombs struck residential buildings in the region, killing seven people and injuring at least 10 others, said Mykhailo Semikin, head of the regional military administration. Russia and Ukraine continue to exchange long-range airstrikes, while fighting on the front line remains largely deadlocked, more than four and a half years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion. Ukraine has been struggling to counter increasingly intense Russian attacks that have killed more than 55 people over the past four days. The latest strikes came a day after Trump announced a deal to purchase diesel from Russia, reversing years of US pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The move is also aimed at addressing rising fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections. Trump said on social media Friday that he reached the agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call that had been expected to focus on a suspected plague case in Russia. Under the deal, Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel, followed by another 500,000 tonnes in November and one million tonnes “immediately thereafter”. Russia will deliver an additional three million tonnes “within a short period of time”, Trump said. The announcement appeared to contradict a sweeping Russia sanctions law Trump signed last month, which sought to restrict Moscow's oil and gas revenues used to finance its war against Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised the deal in a lengthy social media post, warning that Russia would repay it with “further terror and perfidy”. He argued that the agreement would help Moscow prolong the war. “It plays into Russia's hands — allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world,” Zelenskyy said. In a statement released by the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, Zelenskyy described the agreement as “a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners”. Trump announced the deal while his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were meeting Ukrainian officials in Miami to discuss a proposal to end the war. “I believe our team is simply being used as a smokescreen. And that is certainly not fair. It is certainly not how partners should treat each other,” Zelenskyy said.

South Korea said Thursday it will recall its ambassador to Ukraine, escalating its protest over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's disclosure of an alleged secret transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea. The announcement came days after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that Seoul could take unspecified punitive measures if Ukraine does not apologize for revealing the transfer. South Korea's Foreign Ministry did not say when Ambassador Park Hee-chang would return home. In a statement, the ministry said Seoul would continue discussions with Kyiv and expressed hope that the dispute could be resolved smoothly. The diplomatic dispute began after Zelenskyy mentioned the transfer of the two North Korean soldiers during his speech at the United Nations on Sept. 23. South Korea has accused Ukraine of violating a nondisclosure agreement covering the soldiers' transfer in mid-September. Kyiv has denied that such an agreement existed. The two soldiers were among thousands of North Korean troops sent to support Russia's war against Ukraine. After being captured in early 2025, they said they wanted to settle in South Korea because they could face persecution if returned to North Korea. South Korea had agreed to accept them because it legally considers North Korea part of its territory and has a policy of receiving and providing financial support to North Korean defectors. South Korean officials said the nondisclosure arrangement was intended to protect the soldiers and their relatives in North Korea. However, some experts believe South Korea's liberal government may also be concerned that publicizing the soldiers' arrival could complicate its efforts to improve relations with Pyongyang. North Korean state media has not commented on the transfer. However, Pyongyang has previously reacted angrily to major defections, accusing Seoul of abducting North Korean citizens. North Korea has avoided talks with South Korea and the United States since 2019 while focusing on expanding its nuclear weapons program. It remains unclear what further measures Seoul may take against Ukraine. Experts say maintaining relations with Kyiv is important for South Korea because Ukraine could provide intelligence on North Korea's growing military cooperation with Russia and the battlefield experience of North Korean troops. They also said cooperation with Ukraine is important for South Korea's ties with Western countries supporting Kyiv in the war. Observers believe Zelenskyy disclosed the transfer to highlight the risks posed by North Korea's military support for Russia and encourage greater international assistance for Ukraine. South Korea has provided $445 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine since 2022. In July, Lee pledged another $100 million in aid to Ukraine during a meeting with Zelenskyy.

Russian drone attacks across Ukraine killed at least three people and injured 41 others Monday, officials said, as Ukrainian forces reported fresh gains along the front line. The attacks came after a week of diplomatic efforts at the United Nations to advance talks aimed at ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine’s Third Army Corps said its forces had recaptured another 51 square kilometres (20 square miles) in eastern Donetsk region, bringing the total area retaken during its recent offensive to 176 square kilometres (68 square miles). The corps said Soviet-era BTR-60 armoured vehicles had been converted into unmanned explosive vehicles to destroy Russian fortifications. Ground robots were also used in attacks, it said. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces captured Novovodiane in Donetsk and Ulanove in the northern Sumy region. The claims could not be independently verified. Russian strikes also hit civilian and infrastructure targets. In Kyiv region, three people were killed and eight injured, while a strike on a nine-storey apartment building in Kharkiv injured 38 people, including 10 children. In Chernihiv region, four people were injured by a Russian drone. Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones caused fires at three infrastructure facilities in Russia’s Krasnodar region. Russia said its air defences intercepted 254 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged world leaders Wednesday to increase pressure on Russia by cutting its revenues and limiting its ability to continue the war against Ukraine. Addressing the UN General Assembly, Zelenskyy said Russian President Vladimir Putin remains the main obstacle to ending what he called a “ridiculous and never-ending war.” “Our target is Russia's ability to finance this war, to drag it out, to make it more brutal and more destructive,” Zelenskyy said. “Russia's finances and Russia's production are what must be stopped if Putin is to be stopped.” He argued that when Russia continues to earn money from international trade, it has less incentive to pursue diplomacy. “Russia's revenues must remain a target,” he said. Earlier Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov clashed with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and European supporters of Ukraine during a UN Security Council meeting. Lavrov also met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the General Assembly to discuss the war. US discusses possible limited ceasefireRubio later told reporters that Russia and Ukraine have shown interest in a limited ceasefire that would stop attacks on grain shipments and energy infrastructure. Both countries are major grain exporters, while their energy facilities have increasingly come under drone and missile attacks. Rubio said reaching even a limited agreement would be difficult but worthwhile. He noted that Zelenskyy has publicly supported such a proposal and said the United States would be willing to help implement it. Russia's Foreign Ministry did not mention a possible partial agreement on grain shipments in its statement following the Lavrov-Rubio meeting. Instead, it repeated Moscow's position that the root causes of what it calls its “special military operation” must be addressed. At the Security Council, Lavrov said Russia would not “pause” its military action, arguing that European countries would use such a pause to supply Ukraine with more weapons. He also did not mention a possible grain or energy agreement. Lavrov described Ukraine's government as “terrorists” and said Russia's military operation was aimed at protecting its security and the rights of Russian speakers. Lavrov is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Saturday. Zelenskyy questions Putin's commitment to peaceZelenskyy said Russia's actions raised doubts about whether Putin genuinely wants to end the fighting. “Something always seems to stop Putin from saying, ‘That's it. Enough. Peace,’” he said. “The more freedom Putin has to act, the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone else,” Zelenskyy added. The war has affected countries far beyond Ukraine and Russia, disrupting global supplies of fuel, fertilizer and grain while deepening political divisions between Russia and Western countries. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, initially expecting to capture Kyiv within days. Ukraine resisted the invasion, and the war has continued for more than four years, with front-line positions in eastern and southern Ukraine remaining largely unchanged since last year. Western analysts estimate that more than 500,000 Russian troops have been killed and that Ukraine has suffered more than 500,000 military casualties, including as many as 140,000 deaths. Neither Russia nor Ukraine publishes its own casualty figures. Russia, Ukraine intensify drone attacksRussia and Ukraine have increased their long-range drone and missile attacks in recent months. Russian drones struck Kyiv on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring 23 others, according to Ukrainian officials. Two more people were injured in a strike that caused a major fire at a shopping mall in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had targeted Ukrainian military-industrial and energy facilities, logistics centers and sea vessels overnight. The ministry also said Russian air defenses intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions, Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014. Zelenskyy calls for more pressure on RussiaZelenskyy told the General Assembly that Russia had used about 63,000 attack drones of various types against Ukraine so far this year. He said Ukraine had shown that it could continue defending itself despite facing a much larger military. “Limit his money. Limit his war,” Zelenskyy told world leaders, urging them to prevent Russia from obtaining financial resources and foreign fighters. He also said Ukraine needs to strengthen its military and has successfully tested four new jet-powered interceptor drones against Iranian-designed Shahed drones used by Russia. Zelenskyy highlighted agreements and programmes with several countries involving drones and anti-ballistic missile systems. He also warned about the growing role of artificial intelligence in warfare, saying autonomous weapons could eventually make battlefield decisions without direct human control. “We need peace before we reach that point,” he said. Zelenskyy rejected the idea that Ukraine wants war, saying its focus on weapons, defence and sanctions is a response to Russia's invasion. “Ukrainians did not choose this war,” he said. “We choose not to die. … We are defending ourselves.”

Seconds before a Russian drone struck, Viktor Kruglov was thinking about textbooks tens of thousands of them and how to deliver them to Ukrainian schools more quickly. Minutes later, a second explosive-laden Shahed drone hit the main warehouse of his publishing company, Ranok, in northeastern Kharkiv. “Steel was blazing and burning,” Kruglov said, describing the Aug. 1 attack. The huge warehouse’s reinforced concrete melted and its roof collapsed. The fire continued for nearly a week, destroying millions of books. Ukraine’s publishing industry is now facing its most serious crisis, with Russian attacks damaging publishing houses, printing facilities and bookstores. The attacks are part of wider damage to the country’s cultural sector. Nearly 5,000 cathedrals, churches, museums, theaters and other cultural sites have been destroyed or damaged, while about 35,000 art objects have been looted, according to Ukrainian authorities. More than 13 million books about one-third of Ukraine’s annual print production — were destroyed during two months this summer, causing at least $39.3 million, or 1.75 billion hryvnias, in damage, the Culture Ministry said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment on the attacks against Ukraine’s publishing infrastructure. The destruction comes as demand for Ukrainian-language books has increased since Russia’s 2022 invasion. But publishers say the losses threaten the future of the industry beyond the financial damage. Publishers may have less money to invest in new writers, while small independent companies could reduce production or shut down. Larger publishers may also become more dependent on established bestsellers. “This is a deliberate policy of Russia because they understand that culture is what makes us feel resilient, what makes us feel the owners of our land, of our destiny,” Ukraine’s Culture Minister Tetiana Berezhna said. At least 40 other publishing houses and several bookstores have also been damaged in recent weeks. “This is a huge blow to the industry, and if we don't move quickly to put strategic support measures in place the industry could collapse entirely,” Kruglov said, describing publishing as an important part of Ukraine’s national security. The Ranok warehouse, which opened in 2013, was an automated logistics center capable of processing tens of thousands of books daily. The strike destroyed about 8 million books, including 620,000 textbooks supplied to almost all Ukrainian schools. Kruglov said Ranok has backup warehouses and keeps its files in cloud storage, allowing the company to reprint books and continue operating.= Berezhna said the attacks were part of what she described as Russia’s systematic destruction of Ukrainian heritage. She noted that Russia had previously restricted Ukrainian-language publishing and public speaking during the 19th century, when much of present-day Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire. “But still, the Ukrainian language exists. Ukrainian literature exists,” she said, adding that Ukraine’s history offered hope that its culture would survive. New writers face growing risks The attacks have also weakened publishers’ ability to take financial risks on new authors, Berezhna said. Publishing debut writers is generally more expensive and less predictable than producing books by established authors or translated bestsellers. She warned that young writers who could eventually become important Ukrainian literary voices may receive less support. The Culture Ministry is preparing a financial support package that could include government purchases of Ukrainian books for school libraries, grants for small publishers, rent assistance for bookstores and war-risk insurance for print runs. However, publishers say more help is needed. At the Konvi printing plant, which was hit by a Russian missile in July, burned pages from fourth-grade English textbooks remained on the floor months after the attack. Paper was also trapped inside a damaged printing machine. The plant previously printed millions of books each year, including fiction, educational and scientific works. Commercial director Viktoriia Haidai said replacing the damaged printing press would cost 1.2 million euros ($1.37 million), while restoring full production capacity could take four to five years. She said textbook printing that previously took three to four months could now take six to seven months, putting future delivery deadlines at risk. “It's not just the large printing houses that are suffering,” Haidai said. “Many small printers, who don't make themselves known publicly, have also been destroyed.” Industry seeks foreign and government support Iryna Baturevych, co-founder of Chytomo, a leading Ukrainian platform covering books and publishing, said the recent losses were unprecedented in the country’s independent history. She warned that small independent publishers were particularly vulnerable, potentially reducing the diversity of books available, especially in niche and experimental genres. Children’s publishing is also facing difficulties, she said. With many Ukrainian children living abroad, publishers are shifting toward other genres, while some authors are leaving the profession. Baturevych said the government would probably find money to keep textbooks in production, but support for the wider publishing industry was less certain. Ukraine’s financial resources are limited because much of the government’s spending is focused on the war. Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the Ukrainian Parliament’s budget committee, said that as of September, one day of the war costs Ukraine about $190 million. Baturevych said foreign support would therefore be important for rebuilding the publishing sector. Kruglov said publishers need three main forms of government assistance: affordable loans and insurance similar to those available to other industries, investment to rebuild warehouses and printing facilities, and measures to increase demand for books and reading. Publishers currently struggle to obtain such loans because much of their value is tied to intellectual property rather than physical assets that can be used as collateral. “I hope the state will help, because there can be no independent Ukraine without independent publishing,” Kruglov said. “The Ukrainian book is the one product that cannot be imported.”

Russia's parliamentary election is for the first time including residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed since launching its full-scale invasion more than 4 1/2 years ago, in a move aimed at strengthening its control over the areas. Ukraine strongly condemned the voting as illegal, while a human rights activist said residents in Russian-held areas were being pressured to take part. Voting across Russia began Friday and will continue through Sunday in an effort to boost turnout. However, balloting in the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and some Russian border areas began at the end of last month. Russian officials said the extended voting period was necessary for security reasons. Russian authorities say more than 3.5 million voters live in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which Moscow calls the "new regions." Russia declared the territories annexed in September 2022, although it did not fully control them. The annexations have not been internationally recognized. At a polling station in the Russian-held part of Donetsk, voters cast ballots while an armed Russian soldier stood nearby. Putin highlights importance of vote Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that voting in the regions was important, as residents would elect members of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, for the first time since what he called their "reunification with Russia." Russian soldiers fighting in the war also will be allowed to vote, Putin said. Voting is also taking place in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. The election is the first wartime parliamentary vote in Russia and is intended to reinforce the Kremlin's political control and demonstrate public support for the war. "Your choice and resolve will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our fighters," Putin said, adding that Russians were united by shared values, historical memory and love for their homeland. Ukraine calls for rejection of vote Ukrainian authorities described the voting in the occupied territories as illegal and urged foreign governments and international organizations not to recognize the election or its results. Kyiv also warned Ukrainians that helping organize the vote could result in criminal charges. A coalition of nine Ukrainian human rights organizations urged residents in Russian-held territories to avoid the polls, saying the election was an attempt to legitimize Russia's occupation and attempted annexation of Ukrainian territory. European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand said holding the vote in the occupied regions was "another blatant violation of international law." "The European Union does not, and will never recognize" the elections or their results, Wigand said. Activists allege pressure on residents Violeta Artemchuk, coordinator of the Donbas SOS human rights group and one of the signatories of the statement, said local election officials were visiting homes with Russian soldiers and security agents to pressure people into voting. She said Moscow-backed authorities were also threatening public-sector workers with dismissal if they did not vote and making pensions and other social benefits conditional on participation. People receiving social assistance, including pensioners and people with disabilities, could be placed on lists of those considered "disloyal" and risk losing benefits or humanitarian aid if they refused to vote, Artemchuk said. Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst at the Kyiv-based Penta Center, said elections held under such conditions could not be considered genuine. "The very fact that voting takes place amid endless shelling and bombing reflects the Kremlin's attitude toward the people and the electoral process in the occupied territories," Fesenko told The Associated Press. He said electoral procedures conducted by Russian occupation authorities "have nothing to do with democracy."Make the wire copy more conciseImprove the lead’s clarity and flow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that talks with U.S. envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, were "very substantive." The two sides discussed resuming negotiations on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, security and economic guarantees for Ukraine, and a winter support package, Zelensky told reporters at a briefing following the talks. "We are very much counting on both air defense and energy support, and we are counting on a serious volume and possibilities of using American LNG," Zelensky said. Representatives from European countries including Britain, France and Germany joined their discussions at the third round, Zelensky said, adding the three sides had agreed to meet in the future to continue negotiations. He also stressed that efforts were underway to revive trilateral talks between Ukraine, the United States and Russia aimed at ending the conflict. For his part, Witkoff told reporters that the two U.S. peace envoys had made "significant progress" in Moscow and hoped that trilateral talks would be announced soon. Witkoff and Kushner travelled to Kiev earlier Sunday for their first visit to Ukraine after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Delegations from Ukraine, the United States and Russia previously held two rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 23-24 and Feb. 4-5, followed by another round in Geneva on Feb. 17-18, in an effort to find a path toward ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The trilateral negotiations subsequently stalled and have remained suspended.     

Russian drone and missile attacks hit residential and other civilian areas in Ukraine's Kyiv and Odesa regions overnight and Wednesday morning, wounding at least eight people, local officials said. The latest attacks came as Russia and Ukraine traded fresh threats, raising concerns that the nearly five-year war could escalate further. Ukraine's air force said the Kyiv and Odesa regions were among the main targets of the overnight Russian assault. Russia launched 174 attack drones, including around half described as jet-powered drones that are harder to intercept, along with two ballistic missiles and two air-launched missiles, the Ukrainian air force said. In the southern city of Odesa, an attack damaged a 24-story residential building, destroying apartments on several floors. Eight people, including a child, were injured, officials said. Office buildings and two educational institutions were also damaged, while power outages temporarily disrupted electric public transport. In the Kyiv region, a man and a woman were wounded by shrapnel during morning attacks, officials said. It was the seventh consecutive day of attacks on Kyiv, although Wednesday's assault was less intense than in previous days. The attacks also caused a fire at a warehouse, while an educational facility and a medical practice were damaged. The air war has intensified as the conflict continues, while the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine remain largely deadlocked and efforts by the United States to broker a peace deal have yet to produce a breakthrough. Late Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned foreign airlines that Russian airspace was becoming increasingly unsafe because of Ukraine's long-range drone attacks. He said continued military pressure was aimed at pushing Moscow toward peace negotiations. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, accused Zelenskyy of “state terrorism” and rejected the possibility of negotiating with what he described as terrorists. Speaking on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan, Putin was also asked whether Russia could target British military facilities if the United Kingdom continued supplying weapons to Ukraine. He did not rule out such action, saying the matter was a “military secret.” Meanwhile, Russia said its air defenses shot down 130 Ukrainian drones overnight over 11 Russian regions, as well as Crimea and the Black Sea. In Russia's Belgorod border region, Ukrainian drone attacks killed two people and injured 16 others, acting regional governor Alexander Shuvayev said. Ukraine has increasingly used domestically developed long-range drones to target Russian oil facilities and other infrastructure, seeking to put pressure on Russia's economy and bring the effects of the war closer to the Russian public. Western analysts say Russia's attempts to make major gains on the battlefield have recently slowed. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Russia's territorial gains in August were only a fraction of those made during the same month last year. It said Moscow's spring and summer offensive had failed to break through Ukraine's front-line defenses, with Russian advances remaining slow and limited.