Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow is showing no signs it is ready to end its war on its neighbor and he called on the West to remain united in efforts to force the Kremlin to the negotiating table.
“Obviously, the Russians are not preparing to stop their war, at least for now,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, citing intelligence reports that Moscow is intending to hike spending on deadly jet-powered drones and other munitions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “always finds some lame excuse -- not to meet, not to hold a trilateral, not to talk, not to end it, not to stop the killing.”
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Geran-4 Unpacked: What Makes Russia's New Jet-Powered Drone So Dangerous?
“It has been the same with him for years – and all our partners feel it. He is looking for excuses to keep waging the war. It always sounds the same -- and our recent meeting with the US president showed that,” Zelenskyy added in the September 26 address.
'Expand Their War'
The Ukrainian leader claimed that Russia plans to spend $12 billion in the upcoming year on the production of “jet-powered drones and loitering munitions alone -- just on this one category of weapons.”
“This directly concerns our partners as well. Many intelligence services have information that the Russians want to expand their war, their activities, to more countries. Perhaps to other regions. That is why we need to build our defense together. That is why we need to defend ourselves together, preventively.”
He said Ukrainian air defenses have been able to intercept 55 percent of jet-powered drones launched by Russia as overnight attacks on Kyiv and other cities have become increasingly frequent as cold weather starts to set in.
“We are working on this together -- with America, with Europe, with Canada, with Japan, and with many others around the world who are helping us, helping Ukraine, helping our people,” he added.
Zelenskyy wrote on social media that “we ask President [Donald] Trump to implement the Lindsey Graham Act against Russia and everyone who props up its war financially."
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At their latest meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Zelenskyy told Trump he "hoped" that Washington would help to end the war "as soon as possible."
The Ukrainian president told journalists that Washington had proposed holding what would be the first Ukraine-Russia-US meeting in many months at a relatively low "technical level," with the United Arab Emirates serving as host.
While there was no immediate confirmation from the United States, Putin said that all peace proposals were "on the table" but added that Moscow had to weigh its interests.
More Infrastructure Hit
French news agency AFP said an analysis of data from a leading conflict monitor indicate a significant increase in strikes against Ukraine's infrastructure over recent months.
It said figures compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event (ACLED) show Russia has struck twice as many warehouses in the Kyiv region over the past three months as in all previous years of the war combined.
ACLED recorded some 100 strikes or series of strikes on civilian storage facilities in the Kyiv region since mid-June, up from just 50 between February 2022 and mid-June of of this year.
Zelenskyy said that Russia's latest strikes on Ukraine killed at least four people in the Zaporizhzhya and Sumy regions, partly occupied by Russian forces, and left more than a dozen more injured across the country on September 26.
Civilian and energy infrastructure was damaged in at least eight Ukrainian regions, including a kindergarten in the capital, Kyiv, and a university in the country's second-largest city, Kharkiv, he added.
Much of the destruction has been caused by three versions of Russia's jet-powered drones: the Geran-3, Geran-4, and Geran-5. According to the Ukrainian military news site Militarniy, Russia produces nearly 3,000 of the latest two models every month.
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Russia's Jet-Powered Drones: A Major New Threat To Ukraine Amid Speeding Arms RaceWhile the Geran-3 is largely the same drone as previous versions of Russia's Shahed prototypes, modified only with a jet engine -- it has already been intercepted multiple times by the Ukrainian military -- the later versions have more significant upgrades, providing them with a considerable speed advantage.
According to an official from Ukraine's military intelligence agency, HUR, who spoke to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, the Geran-4 can reach speeds of around 350 kilometers per hour, while the Geran-5 can reach speeds of up to 600 kph and has a range of as far as 950 kilometers.