Here is the situation on Sunday, September 22, 2024.

Fighting

At least 12 people were reported injured in Kharkiv after Russian forces struck a multistorey building in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. He added that rescue operations were under way. Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said a child was among those injured.

Ukraine announced that it had hit two Russian munition depots overnight in the Krasnodar and Tver regions in attacks that illustrated its growing capability to strike targets deep inside Russia.

A Russian drone attack killed two people in the Ukrainian town of Nikopol, the regional governor said.
In Kurakhove, one of the focal points of Russia’s slow advance through Ukraine’s Donetsk region, one person was killed in a Russian artillery strike, regional prosecutors said.
Authorities in Ukraine’s Sumy region said Russian aircraft struck energy infrastructure in the town of Shostka. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defence units destroyed 15 drones launched by Ukraine overnight targeting the Rostov region in the south, as well as Kursk, Astrakhan, Belgorod and Voronezh regions. There were no reports of casualties.

Politics and diplomacy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that the end of the war with Russia depended on the “resolve” of Kyiv’s Western allies in providing needed weaponry and permission to use it. He said his meetings next week in the United States were “crucial” to ensuring Ukraine’s defence capabilities.

Russia will not take part in any follow-up to the Swiss-organised “peace summit” held in June as the process amounts to “fraud”, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, adding that Moscow was ready to discuss “truly serious proposals” that take account of the “situation on the ground”.
Ukraine’s allies increased military support in early September, Zelenskyy said. “We can feel the difference,” added the Ukrainian leader, whose army is struggling to stop the advance of Russian forces in the east.
Zelenskyy dismissed a peace plan for Ukraine proposed by China and Brazil earlier this year, saying it was too vague and that there were no specific action or stages spelled out.