Zelensky warns Russia of consequences if energy truce talks fail

Open this photo in gallery:Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.Mike Segar/ReutersUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Moscow at the United Nations on Wednesday that Ukraine would strike back and make the coming winter deeply painful for Russia, if the two sides cannot agree a truce on energy attacks before the cold sets in.Ukraine and its allies are racing to secure limited agreements on energy infrastructure and Black Sea shipping before winter, fearing renewed Russian strikes on power and heating facilities, while Moscow continues to show little interest in wider negotiations to end the war.“Ukrainians understand that this winter could be very harsh for us. But in response, we will have no choice but to make it painful for Russia too,” Zelensky told the UN General Assembly during the annual gathering of world leaders in New York. Though Russia has a far bigger arsenal of missiles which it has used to pound its enemy throughout the war, Ukraine has developed and used thousands of long-range drones to strike back at Russian warehouses, port infrastructure and oil refineries. “That’s exactly why we say that de-escalation steps are needed before winter,” Zelensky said, calling for more robust diplomacy and noting the potential sway that Chinese President Xi Jinping could have on Russian President Vladimir Putin. China’s Xi, who did not attend the United Nations gathering, was due on Thursday to hold White House talks with US President Donald Trump, with whom Zelensky met on Tuesday to discuss a ceasefire on energy-related targets.Russia bombards Kyiv with drones hours before Zelensky’s UN addressRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, after which Rubio said Ukraine and Russia had both voiced an interest in a limited ceasefire involving grain and energy-related targets. There was no immediate sign of any movement in the Russian position, however. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said that at the meeting it had “reaffirmed its unconditional commitment to achieving the objectives of its special military operation,” the phrase that Moscow uses to describe its war in Ukraine. Addressing the 15-member Security Council on the sidelines of the annual UN gathering of world leaders, Lavrov indicated that Moscow would not countenance any temporary cessation of hostilities. “Europe, whatever it thinks, just wants to get a pause, and it wants to use it to pump the Kyiv regime with weapons,” he told a council session focused on the war in Ukraine. Britain, France and Denmark’s top diplomats used their speeches to deliver strong condemnations of Russia’s war, warning variously of dangerous escalation and the spike in civilian deaths this summer. Ukraine discloses evidence of its military operations against Russia in AfricaZelensky used his address to the General Assembly to single out Putin’s role in driving the war, repeatedly describing him derisively as “patient zero” and “the one from whom this idea of war keeps spreading further.” “That is why ’patient zero’ must be stopped. He must be denied the space to act – and the space to spread this evil further,” he said. Zelensky told leaders at a “Crimean Platform” summit on the sidelines of the UN that Kyiv was ready for a maritime truce in the Black Sea based on proposals such as those put forward by Egypt, India and Turkey. “We are waiting for Russia’s response. Ukraine is ready ... to ensure safe shipping and food security in the Black Sea if Russia is ready to take real steps toward de-escalation too. We have to start somewhere,” he said. Top wheat importers in Asia, the Middle East and Africa that count on the Black Sea region for wheat have been finding it hard to secure supplies. Global wheat prices have soared.