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

It came as Moldovan President Maia Sandu warned that Russia is spending “hundreds of millions of euros” to subvert parliamentary elections due to take place this weekend.

Moldovan authorities detained over 70 people in roughly 250 raids targeting suspected Russian-backed attempts to destabilize the country ahead of Sunday’s crucial parliamentary elections.

Press agency Moldpres reported that Moldovan police had carried out around 250 searches zeroing in on more than 100 suspects across the country.

NATO allies condemned “reckless” Russia for compromising global peace and security as Moscow hit back, accusing European leaders of “primitive hatred” and “baseless” claims.

NATO allies clashed with Russia at the United Nations on Monday, accusing Moscow of risking global peace by violating the alliance’s airspace in Estonia and Poland.

The emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was convened in New York on the evening of Sept. 22 following a series of airspace incursions by Russian military aircraft and drones.

Russian airlines rely on intricate parallel import mechanisms to procure essential aircraft components due to sanctions, but this supply strategy has led to concerns of deteriorating flight safety.

Russia is calling on aviation leaders meeting this week in Montreal to lift sanctions on aircraft spare parts and overflight restrictions citing flight safety concerns, according to a report by Reuters.

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western sanctions have severed Russia’s access to foreign-built aircraft and spare parts.

The editor-in-chief of Russia Today (RT), a pro-Kremlin propaganda outlet banned in the EU, recently announced that she was suffering from a “severe illness.”

Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of pro-Kremlin outlet Russia Today (RT) and the state-owned media group Rossiya Segodnya, confirmed on Monday, Sept. 22 that she has cancer.

Simonyan recently spoke about having an unspecified “severe illness” during the Rossiya 1 show Evening with Vladimir Solovyov on Sept. 7.

Ukraine’s Finance Ministry says the country has signed agreements for $8.7 billion in financing for 2025, while estimating its funding needs for 2026 at $18.1 billion.

Out of $30.6 billion in external financing Ukraine already attracted in 2025, the country’s budget still needs $8.7 billion to reach the 2025 international aid benchmark, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance.

The funds have already been secured under programs with international partners, and Ukraine is now awaiting the disbursement of tranches.

NORDA Dynamics has secured $1 million from Varangians, Angel One, MITS Capital, Unpopular VC to scale production and develop autonomous UAV systems capable of operating GPS-free.

The Ukrainian developer of autonomous drone control systems NORDA Dynamics has successfully closed a $1 million funding round, the company announced in a press release emailed to Kyiv Post. 

The company plans to direct the funds toward scaling production and its team, as well as developing new products to enhance UAV autonomy. The company’s engineers work on solutions that ensure mission execution without operator involvement, even in challenging combat or isolated environments.

Speaking to Russia’s Security Council on Monday, Russia’s president said the country’s nuclear forces were ready to respond to threats from the West which was the cause of unstability.

Russian President Vladimir told his National Security Council on Monday once again addressed “nuclear” issues – not for the first time. He spoke about the readiness of the country’s nuclear forces to respond to “threats” alongside the usual criticisms of the West, which, he said “destabilizes stability.”

He said that Russia was ready to abide by the [suspended] Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) if the US agreed to abide by it.

The EU plans to provide loans to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets while preserving Russia’s legal claim. The funds could support war-related needs and defense without outright confiscation.

The EU is considering a new plan to provide loans to Ukraine using Russia’s frozen central bank assets, referred to as “reparation loans.”

Under the proposal, Russia would keep its legal claim on the funds, which would be converted into bonds. Ukraine would receive loans that might not need repayment if Russia fails to cover war damages, according to sources cited by Bloomberg.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said both, one of whom is a former law enforcement officer, are accused of supplying SIM cards used to guide Russian drone strikes.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it had arrested two locals from the Kyiv region for allegedly supplying Moscow with SIM cards used to help navigate drones during airstrikes.

The SBU said the two – one of them a former law enforcement officer – were tasked by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to send the SIM cards to Russia via contacts in the EU and also to recruit other spies within Ukraine’s mobile network operators to “obtain intelligence.”

Partisans say Russia’s Rostov-on-Don submarine, twice hit by Ukraine, was raised in Sevastopol but remains unrepaired.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet submarine Rostov-on-Don, struck twice by Ukrainian forces, has been raised, but no repairs have started, according to the Ukrainian partisan group “Atesh.”

The group said the vessel is currently docked at one of Sevastopol’s bays in occupied Crimea and remains out of service, suggesting the damage may be too severe to justify restoration in terms of resources and time.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un claimed an “unprecedented” number of North Korean youth want to enlist after Pyongyang sent troops to fight in Russia’s Kursk region.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country has seen a sharp rise in youths seeking to join the military after Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces in the Kursk region.

Reports of North Korean troops joining Russia’s war in Ukraine began to surface in October 2024.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to unveil what could be Ukraine’s first draft policy on arms exports, at a time when military exports are effectively restricted despite a production surplus.

Ukraine is set to present the first draft of its arms exports policy “in 10 days,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on Friday.

The exports will be “partial,” limited to products produced in surplus.

The Kremlin and Kyiv both could use powerful S-400 missile interceptors currently owned by Türkiye. Ankara’s 2017 purchase of the high-tech Russian weapons triggered US sanctions.

Advanced interceptor missiles manufactured by Russia and operated by the Turkish military are still part of Ankara’s defense capability, and reports Moscow or Kyiv will acquire the weapons are inaccurate, a Turkish army spokesman said on Friday.

Asked by reporters to comment on news articles appearing both in Ukrainian and Russian media talks were in progress for the transfer of two high tech S-400 air defense systems from Turkish army ownership to another country, Admiral Zeki Aktürk said that the weapons are Türkiye’s and no one else’s.

Russia denied that its fighter jets violated Estonian airspace, claiming they were flying over neutral waters in the Baltic Sea.

Ukraine’s Special Operation Forces (SSO) said it struck a launcher and radar of a Russian S-400 air defense system at the beginning of September.

Ukraine’s Special Operation Forces (SSO) said it detected and destroyed a Russian S-400 air defense missile complex in Russia’s Kaluga region on Sept. 5.

The S-400 system (NATO: SA-21 “Growler”), an analogue to the US’s Patriot system with a range up to 380 km (240 miles), is one of the more advanced systems in Russian service apart from the S-500 systems that entered service in 2021.

The rise has come from the fear that damage caused by drones will be declared an “act of terrorism” and excluded from standard property insurance compensation.

Russia’s business news site Kommersant reported on Monday that Russian insurance companies recorded a significant increase in inquiries for separate property insurance against the risk from drone attacks.

The demand is driven by two factors: the higher profile given by the media to the upsurge in Ukrainian drone attacks increasing the fear among residents and the fact that the authorities frequently declare such attacks to be an act of terrorism which is excluded from coverage.

The consequences of both Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ attack on Israel have upended the geopolitical chessboard. Türkiye is central to any outcome.

Türkiye faces both geopolitical risks and opportunities.

I have spent a few days jamming over various geopolitical risks and opportunities currently facing Türkiye with contacts in Türkiye, Ukraine and beyond.

Kyiv destroyed large Russian drone stockpiles and ammunition depots in Donetsk and Luhansk, thwarting Moscow’s military plans in Ukraine’s Donbas region.

Ukrainian forces have destroyed significant Russian strike drones and ammunition warehouses in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the General Staff reported.

“Ukrainian Defense Forces are effectively thwarting the aggressor’s plans,” reads a Telegram report published Monday, Sept. 22.

Zelensky condemned Russia’s latest strikes, stressing they coincided with the UN General Assembly for the fourth year in a row, and called for tougher global sanctions.

President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that Russia launched a massive strike on Ukraine on the eve of the UN General Assembly, and said the world must strengthen sanctions against Moscow.

According to the president, rescue operations and rubble clearance are ongoing in the Zaporizhzhia city after Russian strikes on civilian infrastructure and residential buildings with guided aerial bombs (KABs).

HUR’s “Ghosts” unit destroyed two Russian Be-12 “Chaika” anti-submarine flying boats and a Mi-8 helicopter in occupied Crimea, marking the first confirmed destruction of Be-12s in history.

Ukraine’s military intelligence service (HUR) said Monday its special operations unit has destroyed two Russian Be-12 “Chaika” anti-submarine amphibious airplanes in occupied Crimea, marking the first confirmed combat destruction of this model of Soviet-designed flying boats.

The operation, carried out on Sept. 21 by the HUR’s “Ghosts” unit, targeted Russia’s naval aviation assets on the peninsula, HUR said in a statement.

Explosions rocked Crimea as a drone strike reportedly hit the Foros sanatorium, in an area once frequented by Putin, for which Russia issued conflicting claims of the resulting casualties and damage.

Explosions were reported near the Foros sanatorium in Russian-occupied Crimea – a facility linked to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) – on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 21.

The blasts were first reported on local Telegram channels and later confirmed by Ukrainian monitoring channels.

Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova prepares for crucial vote amid fears of Russian interference.

Moldovans will vote this week in tense parliamentary elections which its president has called the “most consequential” in the small country’s history, as it teeters between its powerful neighbor Russia and the West.

Wedged between Ukraine -- currently fighting off a Russian invasion -- and European Union member Romania, Moldova has long been divided over closer ties with Brussels or maintaining Soviet-era relations with Moscow.

Fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over have been heightened by recent Russian military incursions into the airspace of NATO members Poland and Estonia.

A month after an Alaskan summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump still seems surprised that his gambit did not pay off with peace in Ukraine.

“He’s let me down,” Trump said this week. “He really let me down.”

In US, press freedom is under increasing pressure from the Trump Administration.

When US President Donald Trump berated an Australian reporter for asking an unpleasant question, his colleagues took that as a warning.

With the administration planning to slash correspondent visas and issuing not-so-veiled warnings, foreign journalists find themselves under pressure in the United States.

Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with Shahed drones and guided aerial bombs, killing two, injuring several, and damaging homes and infrastructure across multiple regions.

Russia launched a series of strikes on Ukraine overnight, using attack drones and guided aerial bombs (KAB), resulting in casualties and significant damage to infrastructure.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, since the evening of Sunday, Sept. 21, Russian forces launched Shahed drones across the country, with Kyiv and Sumy regions the most affected.

Russia is using China and India to facilitate its war against Ukraine. Trump recent actions have unwittingly pushed New Delhi into a potential alliance with Moscow and Beijing.

The evolving global power dynamics were on full display as Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed leaders from more than 20 non-Western nations for the Victory Day parade, following the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. Key partners such as Russia and India were in attendance, underscoring China’s effort to consolidate a multipolar alliance.

While much of the messaging appeared directed at US President Donald Trump, what stood out was the emerging bloc’s unmistakably anti-Ukrainian posture – and the underlying tensions between its central powers. Despite their shared strategic interests and the optics of the new global order, China, India, and Russia continue to face significant obstacles in forging a truly unified front.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russia has reportedly been forming a strategic reserve from new recruits since July 2025.
• The Russian military command may have assessed that Russia could afford to create a strategic reserve after Russian losses began to decrease in the summer of 2025.
• Reports that Russia is creating a strategic reserve further indicate that the Kremlin is not interested in ending its war against Ukraine but remains committed to achieving its war goals on the battlefield and may be preparing for a conflict with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
• Russia continues to test the limits of NATO’s air defenses over the Baltic Sea as Russia increases the frequency of its violations of NATO states’ airspace.
• Russian forces continue to develop drone technologies to increase the volume and precision of strikes against the Ukrainian near rear to further complicate Ukrainian logistics.
• The Kremlin reportedly dismissed former Northern Group of Forces and Leningrad Military District (LMD) Commander Colonel General Alexander Lapin from military service.
• Lapin has proven to be an incompetent commander throughout the war against Ukraine, but the Kremlin is likely punishing Lapin now as part of its ongoing campaign to scapegoat and punish high ranking officials for their failure to repel Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk Oblast in August 2024.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk, Pokrovsk, and Velykomykhailivka.

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