Ukraine War News Today - Top Stories and Breaking Updates from Kyiv Post

It would represent the first use of a new framework created by the US and its allies to provide Ukraine with weapons from US reserves, funded by contributions from NATO member states.

The Trump administration has approved its first US weapons packages for Ukraine, which could soon be shipped as Washington resumes arms deliveries to Kyiv under a new cost-sharing deal with allies, according to two sources.

This would mark the first use of a new mechanism created by the US and its allies to provide Ukraine with weapons from US stockpiles, funded by contributions from NATO member states.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited joint Russia-Belarus Zapad-2025 military drills in the Nizhny Novgorod region amid military provocations and heightened NATO fears.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise trip to the Nizhny Novgorod region to visit joint military drills with Belarus on Tuesday, Russian state television reported.

Donning military garb, Putin met with top war officials at the Mulino training ground, listened to briefings from Defense Minister Andrey Belousov and his deputy, and inspected military equipment including motorcycles, quad bikes, anti-drone weapons and radar systems.

The Serbian leader thanked Russia’s SVR for its “evidence” that student-led protests, which began at the end of 2024, were being choreographed by “Europe’s elite” to engineer a pro-Western coup.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, speaking during a visit to Japan, thanked Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) for the evidence they had provided that the European Union was plotting to stage a Ukrainian-type “Maidan” revolution in the Balkan republic with the aim of “bringing to power a leadership obedient and loyal to Brussels.”

Vučić said he had instructed Serbia’s special services to contact their Russian counterparts for more information, adding he had passed “a thank you to our Russian partners for the information.”

Transneft warned of possible oil output cuts after Ukrainian drone strikes damaged key infrastructure, deepening pressure on Russia’s energy sector, according to Reuters.

Russia’s state oil pipeline monopoly Transneft reportedly warned producers that they may have to reduce output after a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on critical export ports and refineries, according to three industry sources cited by Reutes.

Transneft handles more than 80% of all oil extracted in Russia and operates over 70,000 kilometers (43,000 miles) of trunk pipelines.

Ukraine’s gas storage has edged above last year’s levels, marking a key milestone in efforts to boost reserves ahead of winter following Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.

Natural gas reserves in Ukraine’s underground storage facilities (UGS) have surpassed last year’s levels, reaching 12.055 billion cubic meters (425.7 billion cubic feet) as of September 14, according to data from consulting agency ExPro.

The figure is marginally higher than the 12.05 billion cubic meters (425.5 billion cubic feet) recorded on the same date in 2024, an increase of a little under 0.05%. However, it marks an important milestone in Ukraine’s race to fill its gas reserves ahead of winter after Russian attacks that destroyed critical energy infrastructure.

The jet maker’s CEO touted higher production and deliveries this month. Many of the aircraft’s critical components are reported to come from Western countries through sanctions-evading channels.

Russia has received a new batch of Su-34 (NATO: Fullback) fighter-bombers from domestic arms maker United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) as part of an earlier state defense contract.

UAC is part of Russia’s state arms conglomerate Rostec and the key manufacturer of Russian warplanes, including the latest generation Su-57 multirole fighter.

Twenty-five years after journalist Georgiy Gongadze’s disappearance, his murder remains one of Ukraine’s most haunting crimes, with the masterminds still unpunished.

News broke of the disappearance of Ukrainian journalist and founder of the online publication Ukrainska Pravda, Georgiy Gongadze, on Sept. 16, 2000.

His murder became one of the most high-profile events in Ukraine’s modern history and had a profound impact on the country’s political trajectory.

A Moscow region court arrested Araik Amirkhanyan as an accomplice in the 2023 killing of ex-Ukrainian lawmaker Illia Kyva, slain in an SBU special operation near Moscow.

A court in the Moscow region has ordered the arrest of businessman Araik Amirkhanyan, accused of being an accomplice in the murder of former Verkhovna Rada deputy Ilya Kyva in December 2023, law enforcement agencies told TASS.

“The Moscow Regional Court has chosen pre-trial detention for the accomplice in the murder of [Ilya] Kiva, Araik Amirkhanyan,” a source said to Russian media.

Apart from the graft case concerning the border fortification at the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, the official also admits to taking construction bribes in the occupied Donetsk region.

Alexei Smirnov, Russia’s former Kursk region governor accused of taking bribes in building border fortification, admitted to the charge on Monday.

In addition, he also admitted receiving kickbacks from construction sites in the occupied Donetsk region.

Footage circulating online shows a Russian drone striking a building in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv on Tuesday – reportedly a university – as debris was seen scattered into the air.

A Russian drone slammed into a building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv on Tuesday, erupting in a plume of smoke and scattering debris across nearby streets.

The attack took place on Tuesday morning, in the Slobodskyi district of Kharkiv – Ukraine’s second-largest city a mere 30 km (18 miles) from the Russian border.

A groundbreaking partnership between legal experts and academics from the UK and Ukraine has redefined critical legal terms that “de-Russify” essential areas of the law of modern-day Ukraine.

A groundbreaking partnership between Legal experts from Ukraine’s Constitutional Court joined academics from the Department of Constitutional Law at Ivan Franko National University Lviv and the University of Birmingham Law School has led to the creation of the revised English Ukrainian Rule of Law Dictionary that removes historic Russian influence from within Ukraine’s current constitutional law.

It was announced on Tuesday that the project, which contains approved definitions for over 1,000 legal terms used in Ukraine, has been shortlisted alongside five other UK universities for 2025’s “International Collaboration of the Year” at the 2025 “THE Awards” – which celebrates and acknowledges worldwide academic collaboration – with the winner to be announced in Edinburgh on Nov. 13.

As the Chinese foreign minister frets over freight train traffic jams, with EU-bound electronics and perishable fish shipments stall on Belarusian side tracks, Warsaw still says “no” to China’s Wang.

A bid by the People’s Republic of China’s top diplomat to end a Warsaw-ordered halt to all rail traffic from Belarus has failed, leaving hundreds for freight cars loaded with Chinese electronics and frozen fish stuck on the eastern side of the border with more trains arriving every day, news reports and industry media said on Tuesday.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Polish President Karol Nawrocki for three hours on Monday in talks dominated by a Sept. 11 Warsaw order to shut down all traffic at all border crossings with Belarus and bilateral trade between the two countries, but the lockdown stayed in effect.

Frequent Kyiv Post contributor Lord Ashcroft was presented with the prestigious “Ukraine Above All” medal by Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s head of military intelligence.

Ukraine has awarded Lord Ashcroft a prestigious honor in recognition of his relentless commitment to the Ukrainian people’s defense in its all-out war with Russia.

During a recent visit to Ukraine – his 13th since the invasion by Russia in February 2022 – Lord Ashcroft was presented with the “Ukraine Above All” medal. This is a symbol of loyalty, courage and Ukraine’s fight for freedom.

It took eight years to make this cinematic homage to Kyiv and the people who live there – from the dynamic years after the Revolution of Dignity to the current wartime defiance.

“Ukraine needs a new conversation.” That’s the thesis of Kyiv of Mine, a sweeping, three-part documentary that dares to reframe how the world sees Ukraine – not as a war zone defined by tragedy, but as a living, breathing city filled with resilience, humor, and aspiration.

When producer Ronnie Apteker, a self-proclaimed “tech nerd,” and his international team of friends and filmmakers first landed in Kyiv in the late 2010s, they didn’t find a place resembling the caricatures peddled in Russian propaganda or Western stereotypes. Instead, they discovered a cosmopolitan hub buzzing with artists, chefs, musicians, and innovators building a future-facing city. It was love at first sight – and they decided to move in.

The incident happened Monday around 7 p.m. and lasted several minutes before officers from the State Protection Service neutralized the drone.

Polish authorities detained a 21-year-old Ukrainian man and a 17-year-old Belarusian woman after a drone flew over Belweder Palace and the nearby prime minister’s residence in Warsaw, officials said Tuesday.

The incident happened Monday around 7 p.m. and lasted several minutes before officers from the State Protection Service (SOP) neutralized the drone.

Europe’s press discusses how to deal with Israeli athletes and artists.

The final stage of the La Vuelta cycling race was cut short in Spain on Sunday due to protests against the war in Gaza. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also called for Israel to be excluded from international sporting events and some countries are protesting Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, which they threaten to boycott. Europe’s press discusses how to deal with Israeli athletes and artists.

Demonisation instead of real-world policies

Ukraine’s 11th Army Corps has accused Moscow troops of dressing as civilians during a sabotage mission in Yampil, a settlement in the Donetsk region on the Lyman front.

Ukraine’s 11th Army Corps has accused Moscow troops of disguising themselves as civilians during a recent sabotage mission in Yampil, Donetsk region, using local civilians as “human shields.”

Yampil is a Kyiv-controlled settlement in the Donetsk region, approximately 11 km (7 miles) from Lyman, a Ukrainian stronghold. The capture of Ukraine’s Donetsk region is among Moscow’s official war goals.

The pipelines that for years shipped Russian gas to Europe were damaged by huge explosions in September 2022, several months after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

A Ukrainian arrested in Italy last month over the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia to Europe must be extradited to Germany, a court in Bologna ruled Tuesday.

Serhii Kuznietsov, a member of the Ukrainian armed forces at the time, has denied being part of a cell which placed explosives on the underwater pipeline and will appeal against the extradition ruling at Italy’s highest court, his lawyer Nicola Canestrini told AFP.

Ukrainian intelligence hit Russia’s 155th Marine Brigade near Vladivostok, 8,000 km from Kyiv, causing explosions at a unit infamous for brutal war crimes.

Ukraine’s military intelligence carried out a special operation in Russia’s Far East targeting a marine infantry unit accused of atrocities in Ukraine, intelligence sources told Kyiv Post on Tuesday.

The operation struck the 47th Separate Airborne Assault Battalion of Russia’s 155th Guards Marine Brigade, based near the settlement of Shchytova in Primorsky Krai. The region, whose capital is Vladivostok, lies on Russia’s Pacific coast near the borders with China and North Korea — more than 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) from Kyiv.

The President’s Deflections and a Chaotic Foreign Policy.

Last weekend, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to demand that European NATO members stop buying Russian oil and impose sweeping tariffs “between 50% and 100%” on all Chinese and Russian goods until the war in Ukraine ends. He then declared that the war “is not TRUMP’S WAR (it would never have started if I was President!), it is Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s WAR.”

Ending Europe’s dependence on Russian energy is already a shared strategic goal, and, though sometimes too-slow, has been advanced through painstaking sanctions and diversification efforts. Blanket tariffs on Chinese products, however, would be far more difficult for European policymakers to implement and serve little strategic purpose.

Azerbaijan demonstrates it s continuing intolerance of political dissent.

Azerbaijan on Tuesday sentenced in absentia a prominent France-based blogger and government critic Mahammad Mirzali to six and a half years in prison, a court in Baku said.

A judge said Mirzali was guilty of “calling for mass unrest” and “public appeals against the state”.

Ukraine’s “Birds of the Madyar” unmanned aerial systems unit shot down a Russian Orion reconnaissance and strike drone valued at over $5M.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have shot down a Russian Orion reconnaissance and strike drone worth several million dollars, as per Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces Robert “Madyar” Brovdi.

“Flown enough, mother f***er. Shot down strike reconnaissance aircraft ‘Orion’. 414th separate brigade ‘Birds of the Madyar’, Topot Team. 16.3 meters wingspan, 24 hours in the air,” Brovdi wrote on Telegram.

Europe must not develop an inferiority complex with the US if it is to drive through its rearmament program, the head of Germany’s largest defense contractor told Breaking Defense.

The Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said, speaking to the military issues outlet Breaking Defense at this year’s Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) trade show in London, that Germany and Europe “will grow up to be a reliable partner of the United States.”

“We must not be, as we say, ‘a small boy who is working with a big giant’.” He said that in defending the continent Europe must be seen to be on the same level with the US and that “Germany has to play its role.”

Ukraine’s special forces struck the Saratov Oil Refinery deep inside Russia overnight, causing explosions and a fire.

Ukrainian special operations forces struck a major oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region overnight, setting off explosions and igniting a fire at the site, Ukraine’s General Staff said Tuesday.

The attack on the Saratov Oil Refinery was carried out in coordination with other elements of Ukraine’s defense forces in the early hours of Sept. 16, according to the statement. The scale of the damage was not immediately clear, and assessments are ongoing.

Politico reported that the package, originally scheduled for implementation on Sept. 17, has been removed from the agenda of the EU’s permanent representatives.

The Office of the President of Ukraine confirmed Tuesday that the European Union has postponed the adoption of its 19th sanctions package against Russia.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, presidential adviser on sanctions policy, told Kyiv Post that the delay is likely “due to [unspecified] technical issues” and coordination with EU partners, rather than for political reasons.

Rubio noted that Trump has had “multiple calls with Putin, multiple meetings with Zelensky, including probably next week in New York,” where world leaders will gather for the UN General Assembly.

President Donald Trump will likely meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week as he continues his effort to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday.

Trump has repeatedly warned of sanctions against Russia if President Vladimir Putin does not compromise, but he has not enforced them even as Moscow steps up its attacks, a situation that has frustrated Kyiv.

Russian military forces attack Zaporizhzhia civilians, airstrikes kill one and wound 13, including two children; blasts cut power in Sumy; and double drone strikes target a parking lot near Kyiv.

Overnight Russian strikes on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia killed one person and wounded at least 13 others, including two children, Ukrainian emergency officials said Tuesday.

The State Emergency Service (SES) reported that a series of at least 10 strikes hit the city during the early hours of Sept. 16, sparking massive fires and damaging residential buildings, vehicles, and infrastructure.

The Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces said that Belarus had informed Warsaw about Russian drones entering Polish airspace during an incursion in the early hours of that day.

Belarus notifying Poland about incoming Russian drones was “not an act of goodwill” on the part of Minsk, but a self-serving move by Moscow’s ally to shirk accountability for the incursion, a Polish defense expert has said.

General Wiesław Kukuła, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, said last Wednesday that Belarus had informed Warsaw about a wave of Russian drones entering Polish airspace during a large-scale incursion in the early hours of that day. 

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky removed Volodymyr Silenko, head of the 17th Army Corps, and Maksym Kituha, head of the 20th Corps, citing “shortcomings in troop command.”

Ukraine’s Armed Forces chief has dismissed two corps commanders after setbacks on the battlefield, the General Staff confirmed Monday.

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky removed Volodymyr Silenko, head of the 17th Army Corps, and Maksym Kituha, head of the 20th Corps, citing “shortcomings in troop command.”

To push European countries not to side with Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is now preparing to use immigration from Africa as a pressure card.

Recently, Russia, with the direct coordination of General Khalifa Haftar, the warlord who controls eastern Libya, began using immigration as a weapon by flying migrants from Libya to Finland’s borders. Requests for asylum on a large scale led Finland to close its borders with Russia to protect itself from the risk.

The statistics paint a telling picture. Reports show that about 1,000 undocumented migrants crossed into Finland from Russia in the two weeks before the border closure, compared with fewer than 100 asylum seekers in the first six weeks of 2023. In addition, open-source data reviewed by The Telegraph of flights between Benghazi and the Belarusian capital suggest a spike in travel in recent months.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• The Kremlin is escalating its rhetoric, threatening NATO states in parallel with the kinetic escalation of Russia’s recent drone incursion into Poland.
• Russian and Belarusian forces continued the Zapad-2025 joint military exercises on September 15 and appear to be implementing some tactical lessons from Russia’s experience in Ukraine.
• Russia is using the Zapad-2025 exercises to practice potential future kinetic provocations against neighboring NATO states.
• The September 12-14 gubernatorial elections in Russia further demonstrated the Kremlin’s grip on power throughout the country.
• The Kremlin continues to build out a loyal cadre of elected officials from veterans of its war against Ukraine.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Dobropillya tactical area. Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk and Novopavlivka and in eastern Zaporizhia Oblast.

The top US diplomat says the attacks are part of a reciprocal cycle and calls on European allies to impose their own sanctions as NATO nations scramble to respond to airspace violations.

WASHINGTON DC -  US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that recent Russian drone incursions into NATO airspace are a symptom of a “protracted war,” with attacks “designed largely to weaken one another.”

Speaking from Jerusalem during an interview with Fox News, Rubio addressed the latest provocations. He pushed back against the idea that the incursions showed Russian President Vladimir Putin was emboldened, arguing instead that they were “an example of why this war [US] the President [Donald Trump] thinks needs to end.”

Trump may seek to bolster the “special relationship” with a new nuclear energy deal, but his latest ultimatum on Russia leaves Britain in a diplomatic bind.

WASHINGTON DC – US President Donald Trump’s second state visit to the UK, beginning today, is a high-stakes affair marked by royal pomp, ambitious economic deals, and a deep-seated diplomatic divide over the most pressing security issue facing Europe: Russia.

While the Trump administration is keen to highlight a burgeoning partnership with the UK on everything from technology to defense, the core disagreement over how to handle Moscow’s aggression hangs heavy over the carefully choreographed events.