By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, has accused Russia of plotting potentially catastrophic attacks on Ukrainian nuclear plants after Moscow rejected his peace plan.
In a defiant address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he also condemned China and Brazil, two Russian allies, for proposing an alternative to his peace formula. “You will not boost your power at Ukraine’s expense,” Zelenskyy warned.
Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, agreed with Zelenskyy and blasted China for supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine. “We cannot continue a situation where China helps Russia in a war … in Europe, without consequences. They have to be held responsible for their activities,” he said.
Zelenskyy spoke as the Kremlin called his plan“to force Russia to make peace” a “fatal mistake” that would have consequences for Kyiv.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia wanted peace but that forcing the issue was impossible.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, met with Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart, on the sidelines of the U.N. general assembly. The pair discussed “prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis” and measures to counter “the West’s escalation of the situation in the Asia-Pacific Region,” a statement said.
Zelenskyy’s comments at the U.N. were also closely watched by Washington as he was to meet in the White House with U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss a “victory plan.”
INTERNATIONAL CONCERN
His talks come amid mounting international concern about the ongoing war since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelenskyy is also due to meet with the U.S. presidential candidates, Donald J. Trump and Kamala Harris.
The talks come as the embattled Ukrainian leader is seeking uninterrupted Western support despite a rising death toll on both sides and setbacks.
Yet, despite earlier reports to the contrary, Russia’s troops did not reach the outskirts of Ukraine’s eastern town of Vuhledar, “but its reconnaissance groups are operating there,” said Vadym Filashkin, the governor of the Donetsk region, on Wednesday.
Russia said it had captured two more villages in Ukraine, though this has not been confirmed, and was attacking Vuhledar, a longtime Ukrainian stronghold.
Two people were killed and 12 others injured after a Russian-guided bomb strike on Ukraine’s eastern city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday, the Donetsk regional governor said.
Russian troops used “three highly destructive bombs” in the attack on the town’s center that damaged two apartment blocks, shops, and cars, he said.
WOMAN DIES
An 80-year-old woman died as a result of Russian shelling in Kherson, Alexander Prokudin, the head of the regional military administration, said on the social media platform Telegram. “As a result of another shelling, two people who were on the street were injured,” he added.
However, Kyiv suggested it retaliated as Ukrainian forces reportedly captured about 24 Russian soldiers and killed “several dozen” others during an operation to recapture an aggregate plant in the town of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region.
The reports could not be independently verified.
As fighting intensified, Kyiv had been seeking permission to use British-French-made Storm Shadow missiles on Russian territory.
While Britain supports the move, negotiations are ongoing with Washington as the weapons use some US technology, and the White House fears an escalation of the armed conflict. Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, told Russia he does not know how it can show its face at the United Nations after invading Ukraine and treating its own citizens as “bits of meat to fling into the grinder.”
Starmer, addressing the U.N. security council on Wednesday, accused Russia of violating the U.N. charter because its invasion of Ukraine was illegal, threatened global security, and had caused “colossal human suffering.”
There were renewed fears Wednesday that the war could turn into a broader armed conflict as the NATO military alliance said it plans to coordinate the transport of a large number of wounded troops away from the frontlines in case of a war with Russia, potentially via hospital trains as “air evacuations may not be feasible.”
The war has already killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people on the Ukrainian and Russian sides.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
A revised draft of a UN Security Council resolution outlining the “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict” is set to be circulated by the United States for review among Security Council members, according to an exclusive report by The Jerusalem Post.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has declined to immediately pursue membership in the Abraham Accords, citing Israel’s control of the Golan Heights as a primary obstacle, though he suggested the Trump administration could eventually facilitate such negotiations.
French authorities have opened a formal judicial inquiry after chaos erupted during a concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Paris, where protesters lit flares and shouted anti-Israel slogans before being subdued by audience members.
Russia’s Republic of Dagestan has become the focus of an embarrassing aviation scandal after a helicopter carrying senior defense-industry officials broke apart in mid-air and crashed — an event caught on video and widely shared online, prompting authorities to launch a criminal investigation.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) faced an unprecedented crisis Monday after its director-general and head of news resigned amid accusations of political bias at what was once regarded as the flagship of both Britain and journalism worldwide.
President Donald Trump secured a significant diplomatic breakthrough Monday as Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed an agreement bringing Syria into the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, making the war-torn nation the 90th member of the U.S.-led counterterrorism alliance.
In a disappointing setback for religious freedom advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment to hear former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis’s appeal, leaving in place a $360,000 judgment against her for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The justices let stand lower court rulings that found she violated couples’ constitutional rights under the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, despite what her legal team characterizes as a conflict with her First Amendment religious liberty rights.