Zelenskiy Pivots To Talk Of Postwar Rebuild, As Kherson Hit, Russians Impose Donetsk Curfew

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pivoted to postwar reconstruction after his return to Europe from North America, as Ukrainian intelligence claimed a major blow against Russia's navy in annexed Crimea. Russian officials also said a Ukrainian drone struck near Russian intelligence offices in the northern city of Kursk as Moscow's full-scale invasion reached the 19-month mark.

In Ukraine's Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian strikes on September 24 killed two people, wounded eight, and destroyed several private homes in the town of Beryslav.

Meanwhile, in the frontline Donetsk region of Ukraine, Moscow-installed authorities imposed restrictions on occupied areas, including a weekday 11 p.m.-to-4 a.m. curfew, a ban on protests and rallies, and military censorship of correspondence, online communications, and telephone calls as fighting intensified in the east and south.

Following a stop in Poland, Zelenskiy said via social media on September 24 that he had met with in the United States with leading individuals from the business and finance sectors, including media mogul Michael Bloomberg.

The gatherings were part of a visit that took him to the floor of the UN General Assembly and before the UN Security Council in New York, as well as to crucial meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden and congressional leaders in Washington and to Canada.

"The American entrepreneurs and financiers confirmed their readiness to make large-scale investments in our country immediately after the end of the war and the receipt of security guarantees," Zelenskiy said via social media. "We are working for the victory and reconstruction of Ukraine."

As the unprovoked Russian invasion entered its 20th month, the Ukrainian military and an outside assessment suggested that Ukrainian forces were penetrating deeper into Russian defenses in their ongoing counteroffensive, especially in a crucial southern region.

Ukraine's General Staff said on September 24 that Russian drone and missile strikes had continued in the last 24 hours, and said its forces were engaged in offensive operations "in particular in the Verbove area of the Zaporizhzhya region" in the south.

A day earlier, analysts from the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said they had used geolocation and other information to conclude that "Ukrainian forces are deepening their penetration" in the Zaporizhzhya region.

Much of the latest focus of the three-month-old Ukrainian counteroffensive has been on Zaporizhzhya and its surroundings, which host Europe's largest nuclear plant at a facility captured by Russia in the early weeks of the invasion.

SEE ALSO: Heavy Metal: The Radioactive Ammunition Headed For Ukraine

In Russia, officials said a drone attack blamed on Ukraine had damaged an "administrative" building in downtown Kursk in the vicinity of offices of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

But reports that a blast had struck the FSB offices, located on Dobrolyubova Street, could not be confirmed.

Kursk regional Governor Roman Starovoit said on Telegram that what he described as a Ukrainian drone had struck an administrative building downtown and "the roof was slightly damaged."

Reports on social media showed images of smoke rising over the city center and referred to multiple explosions, although RFE/RL could not immediately verify their authenticity.

Kursk is about 90 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. A drone strike there last month damaged a railway station and injured five people.

On September 23, Ukrainian military intelligence claimed a missile attack on Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula on September 22 had targeted "a meeting of the Russian navy's leadership" and resulted in high casualties, including a group commander.

With reporting by Reuters