President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, announced that Kiev and its partners in the European Union are working on the 20th sanctions package against Russia. “We estimate the contents of this package will be ready within a month and propose to include Russian persons and entities that continue to profit from energy resources,” he said in his regular evening message.
Zelensky called for strengthening measures against channels that enable Russian military production. “Every Russian missile and drone contains components from other countries. Without them there would be no Russian weapons. Efforts in this area must be doubled,” he stressed.
Lavrov: “I’m ready to meet Rubio”
Sergey Lavrov said he was ready to hold a direct meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. But the Russian Foreign Minister, interviewed by the Ria Novosti news agency, stressed that Moscow’s interests must be taken into account when discussing the war in Ukraine.
“It is important to discuss the Ukrainian issue and promote the bilateral agenda,” Lavrov said. “Therefore we communicate by telephone and are ready to hold face-to-face meetings if necessary,” he added.
In the interview, Lavrov said he believed that talks Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump held in Alaska in the summer should remain the basis of a potential agreement to end aggression against Ukraine. “At that time, the Americans assured us that they could guarantee that Volodymyr Zelenskyy would not obstruct the peace process. Apparently, there were some difficulties that arose in this regard,” he said.
When asked about the possible use of frozen Russian assets to support Kiev, Lavrov replied: “The European Commission’s cynical interpretation of the UN Charter and other norms of international law, including provisions on sovereign immunity and the inviolability of central bank assets, has long ceased to be surprising. Such actions amount to fraud and robbery.” “No matter how the plan to extort money from Russia is organized, there is no legal way to do it and Russia will respond appropriately,” the Russian Foreign Minister said.
This is the impact of the US shutdown on Kiev
That The partial US government shutdown led to delays in American arms exports estimated to be worth more than $5 billion, destined for NATO countries and likely Ukraine.. Axios reported on this, highlighting how the shutdown has crippled key activities in several federal offices, including the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which is responsible for approving sales.
“This actually hurts our allies and partners as well as American industry, which has failed to deliver many of these critical capabilities abroad,” said a senior US State Department official. Among the delayed supplies are Amraam missiles, Aegis and Himars combat systems destined for Denmark, Croatia and Poland.
In the evening, news emerged that Democratic senators said they were ready to approve a package of legislation that could end the government shutdown. This was indicated by several Axios sources, who said this was the most significant step towards a bipartisan agreement to reopen the federal government after more than a month of deadlock.
