Morning opening: Zelenskyy to present Ukraine’s case to UN leaders
Jakub Krupa
Ukraine is set to feature prominently on Day 2 of the UN general assembly in New York, with leaders first joining the UN security council meeting on Ukraine, before president Volodymyr Zelenskyy takes to the podium to deliver his address to the assembly.
It will be a key opportunity to rally international support behind Kyiv, bolstering Ukraine’s position ahead of any potential peace talks with Moscow.
Zelenskyy did not get a chance to say much during his last night’s meeting with US president Donald Trump.
“I hope we will end this war, and president Trump will help us end this war. We need to do it as quick as possible, before winter,” he said at the beginning of the meeting before Trump dominated the Q&A with reporters.
He later said on social media that the pair discussed ending “the senseless war” before winter, with “potential de-escalatory steps that can open up the way to diplomacy.”
He also said Ukraine was “ready for any kind of format of energy ceasefire” if Russia agrees to “not attack out energy system”
Before we get to Zelenskyy late afternoon, we will hear from some other European leaders from Latvia, Romania, Czech Republic, Estonia, and Cyprus. I will monitor their speeches for any key lines.
Lots to cover.
It’s Wednesday, 23 September 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Key events
Kyiv faces ‘particularly severe’ attacks disrupting daily life
Charlotte Higgins
in Kyiv
For the past two days, Kyiv has come under particularly severe attack from jet-powered Shahed drones – swifter and harder to intercept than their predecessors.
As has been the case since mid-August, the drone attacks have come in the daytime as well as at night, disrupting ordinary life, schools and kindergartens.
On Wednesday morning an acrid stench of burning filled the city centre after multiple explosions, and the clear autumnal sky was clouded with plumes of black smoke.
A petrol station, warehouses, a business centre and a transport infrastructure building were hit, according to Kyiv’s mayor, Vitaliy Klichko.
As of mid-morning, one person had died and eight had been injured. Explosions were also seen near the capital’s main railway station.
‘The world has changed, so should the UN,’ Finland’s Stubb says
Finland’s influential president Alexander Stubb also made a powerful speech about “dignified foreign policy” based on values at the UN last night, as he warned that “cooperation is undermined by a lack of trust, disregard for rules, and the weakening of institutions.”
“There are currently 65 active armed conflicts – more than at any time since the end of the Cold War,” he said, adding that more and more countries “compete against the rules on which the international order rests.”
Stubb used his speech to call for a reform of the UN, saying “the world has changed, so should the UN.”
“There should be, at least, two new permanent seats for Africa, two for Asia-Pacific and one for Latin America.
No single state should have veto power. And, if a member of the Security Council violates the UN Charter, its voting rights should be suspended.
The world needs a functioning UN security council. To move forward, we need to break the impasse and be open for creative solutions.”
Stubb also confirmed that Finland will stand for election to the security council from 2029 to 2030.
Worth reading the entire speech here.
Burnham navigates diplomatic rapids in first Trump meeting, but turbulent waters lie ahead
Burnham also had to navigate his first tricky in-person meeting with US president Donald Trump.
“Trump has asserted his relationship with the UK is “more up” with Andy Burnham than under Keir Starmer despite tensions between the two countries on a range of thorny issues including regulation of artificial intelligence, the Chagos Islands and the war in Iran.
At their first face-to-face meeting, the US president praised Burnham, who sat nervously alongside him, as a “natural businessperson”, saying he thought he had “lots of assets on his side” and would be a “great” prime minister.
As our political editor Pippa Crerar writes in her analysis:
“The British side, including foreign secretary Ed Miliband and national security adviser Jonathan Powell, could not hide their relief when Trump kept his policy differences with the UK muted – beyond inevitable criticism of what he described as the “terrible” Chagos deal.
…
British officials – even those who have witnessed the Trump strategy in action before and knew it would not necessarily last – were delighted with how the talks had gone.
“It was the top end of our expectations,” said one. “All the issues you guys had written about – the Falklands, a united Ireland, Chagos – all fine.””
New UK agency to fight ‘information warfare’ from likes of Russia, Burnham tells UN
There was also lots of focus on UK prime minister Andy Burnham’s first UN speech, late at night in Europe.
In his speech, Burnham was keen to speak about how “Britain is back” after 10 years of Brexit, “restoring our stability” and “building a more dynamic economy.”
On Russia, he said the UK will be “will be relentless in building up our hard power and deterrence,” but “we will not play Russia’s game of trading escalatory rhetoric.”
“Unlike Russia, we do not seek confrontation. Instead, we will be prepared, but not panicked. Clear-eyed, but cool headed. And unflinching in defending our people and our allies.”
In particularly eye-catching paragraphs, he said Britain has been “under attack” with years of “an industrial-scale assault by hostile actors on the information environment in the UK and that of many of our allies.”
“Russian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fears. They’ve used bots and fake websites. Falsified newspaper articles. Forged the branding of 28 British organisations – including universities and the BBC. They’ve amplified far right narratives,” he said, adding that Moscow “tried to interfere with the 2019 general election.”
In response, security chiefs will set up a new national centre to tackle disinformation and deepfakes from hostile states such as Russia, he said, saying the government had a duty to “stem the poisonous tide” from damaging British interests.
Burnham said the country would have to go into the next decade “eyes wide open” about “insidious” campaigns, many of which had been orchestrated by Russia, which “twisted” what people at home felt about their own country and community.
Macron’s final UN speech condemns ‘return to the law of the jungle’ with focus on Ukraine, Gaza, West Bank
Catching up with what happened at UNGA last night, France’s president Emmanuel Macron delivered his last general assembly speech as he is firmly in the last year of his presidency.
And he did not hold back, warning against a global “return to the law of the jungle,” as he said “we cannot accept the new order of impunity that some would like to build.”
He warned that “in the Middle East, in Ukraine, in Africa, the industrialisation of war crimes, violations of the law, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure is ushering in a new age of barbarity.”
He assured leaders of France’s “unwavering support” for Ukraine, and urged leaders to “defend the Ukrainian people … more than ever before the coming winter.”
Separately, in what was seen as a swipe at Trump, Macron also said the world was witnessing a spectacle that should shame everyone, rebuking Trump’s portrayal of his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic triumph, Reuters reported.
“A year ago, here in this very hall, about a dozen states had recognised Palestine. I hear the cynicism of some people: ‘Recognition is just a piece of paper, look at the reality.’
What credibility do we have if we continue to remain inactive in the face of Gaza? Some boast of a supposed peace. But that peace has not reopened humanitarian access for a single second. Are we simply to stand by and watch this spectacle that should shame us all?”
Macron also opted for tough language on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, saying:
“Look at what is happening in the West Bank, where every day violations are committed. In whose name? Hamas has never operated in the West Bank …
What is happening there is building, day by day, the impossibility of a project that should be based on respect for the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to exist.”
At least one dead, seven injured in Russian strikes on Kyiv this morning
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least one person died and seven were injured in this morning’s Russian attacks on Kyiv.
In a series of updates, he said Russian drones struck a business centre, a transport facility, and a “non-residential building,” among others.
Separately, Ukrainian oil company Ukrnafta said Russia hit one of its petrol stations in the capital, the sixth such facility attacked in recent weeks.
Smoke was seen rising in the centre of Ukrainian capital Kyiv after a Russian drone attack this morning, Reuters reported.
More on that when we have it.
Morning opening: Zelenskyy to present Ukraine’s case to UN leaders
Jakub Krupa
Ukraine is set to feature prominently on Day 2 of the UN general assembly in New York, with leaders first joining the UN security council meeting on Ukraine, before president Volodymyr Zelenskyy takes to the podium to deliver his address to the assembly.
It will be a key opportunity to rally international support behind Kyiv, bolstering Ukraine’s position ahead of any potential peace talks with Moscow.
Zelenskyy did not get a chance to say much during his last night’s meeting with US president Donald Trump.
“I hope we will end this war, and president Trump will help us end this war. We need to do it as quick as possible, before winter,” he said at the beginning of the meeting before Trump dominated the Q&A with reporters.
He later said on social media that the pair discussed ending “the senseless war” before winter, with “potential de-escalatory steps that can open up the way to diplomacy.”
He also said Ukraine was “ready for any kind of format of energy ceasefire” if Russia agrees to “not attack out energy system”
Before we get to Zelenskyy late afternoon, we will hear from some other European leaders from Latvia, Romania, Czech Republic, Estonia, and Cyprus. I will monitor their speeches for any key lines.
Lots to cover.
It’s Wednesday, 23 September 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
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