Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy criticises US, calls for more Starlink access, amid deadly Russian assault
Ukrainian president says expanded Starlink access will help nation target Russian ballistic-missile launchers. What we know on day 1,689
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the US of being unwilling to help Ukraine after a Russian bomb attack on Thursday killed at least 35 people in the east, sending the two-day death toll from Russian strikes to more than 70. Hours after the strike on the embattled city of Kramatorsk tore through two buses, Zelenskyy criticised Washington’s effort to pursue economic ties with Russia while also seeking to mediate the more than four-year war.
Speaking to reporters in Pryluky, the Ukrainian leader urged the US to accede to his requests to expand Ukraine’s access to the Starlink satellite service to help it target Russian ballistic-missile launchers. “Open Starlink for Ukraine. You did open it when you were responding to Iran … I’ve said quite openly – give it to us, help us defend our skies and dominate there. And then Putin will sit down at the negotiating table,” he said.
UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was appalled by Thursday’s “horrifying strike”. “I am appalled by the wave of attacks killing civilians across Ukraine over the past four days, including today’s horrifying strike hitting two public buses,” he said in a statement. “The scale and manner of these attacks – killing and injuring people on buses, at their homes and work in different areas of the country – is reprehensible. In the last two days, 78 people were killed and 215 wounded by strikes across Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian negotiators will travel to the US on Friday and Saturday for talks, Zelenskyy said, urging US president Donald Trump to increase sanction pressure on Russia. Ukraine’s president told reporters that he expected Kyiv’s European partners to join the talks with the US. Zelenskyy said his chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, as well as Ukraine’s top officials: Rustem Umerov, Sergiy Kyslytsya and David Arakhamia will take part in the talks in Florida.
The US-led peace efforts to end the Ukraine war have largely stalled, with Washington focused on its conflict with Iran. But US officials said they were making a fresh effort in an enlarged format, following visits to Moscow and Kyiv last month by Witkoff, Trump’s business friend-turned-roving envoy, and the president’s son-in-law Kushner. US officials said the envoys would discuss “security guarantees for Ukraine, a postwar prosperity plan, and other aspects of the conflict”. Witkoff and Kushner “will discuss new ideas and proposals that American negotiators began developing with the Russians and Ukrainians during their recent visit to the region,” a source familiar with the talks said.
Nato said it would start its annual ‘nuclear deterrence’ exercises in Italy from Tuesday amid mounting concerns about Russia. The drills will run from 13-23 October and involve 17 nations. “The exercise is a long-planned, routine training activity that is part of Nato’s efforts to maintain readiness and test procedures that contribute to the alliance’s deterrence and defence,” said a Nato statement.
South Korea will recall its ambassador to Ukraine, the foreign minister said on Thursday, following a dispute over Zelenskyy’s announcement that two North Korean prisoners of war were being transferred to Seoul. The two sides have been locked in a dispute after Seoul accused Kyiv of breaching a confidentiality agreement over the transfer of the captured soldiers.
