Ukraine updates: Russia reports Kyiv attack on Sevastapol

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he believes that Russia's reliance on North Korea and Iran showed its dire situation in Ukraine.

He made the comments on the day of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"That's kind of a 'Star Wars' bar scene of countries. So I think it does speak to Russia's desperation," Blinken told the Pod Save the World podcast. "We're looking to make sure that we, as necessary, can impose costs and consequences."

The White House also said that it continued to urge North Korea not to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the organization's General Assembly in New York next week.

"I will be receiving President Zelensky," the UN chief said

He said that he did not expect any diplomatic breakthrough at the annual gathering.

"I would love to have a chance to be able to mediate in order to have peace talks, but I think we are far from that to be possible," Guterres said.

The central Ukrainian city of Uman expects tens of thousands of visitors to attend Jewish New Year celebrations, known as "Rosh Hashanah."

The city’s deputy mayor, Oleh Hanitsch, told Ukrainian television: "We expect over 30,000 pilgrims."

Hanitsch said that Ukrainian police will be supported by Israeli colleagues during the event.

The city is located in the Cherkasy region, around 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Kyiv. It is a major pilgrimage site for Hasidic Jews, who visit the city to see the tomb of Rabi Nachman.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister warned against travel to Uman because of the lack of air-raid shelters.

Fragments of a drone have been found within Romanian territory, officials say.

President Klaus Iohannis said that the fragments seemed to belong to drones “similar to those used by the Russian army.”

The fragments were spread over an area of “several tens of meters,” according to Romania’s defense ministry.

Romania’s foreign ministry said that it “reiterates its firm protest against the violation, once again, of Romania's airspace” and summoned Russia’s ambassador.

Romania is a member of the NATO military alliance and the European Union.

The Estonian Ministry of the Interior says it has joined Latvia and Lithuania in banning any vehicle with Russian license plates from crossing the border into the country.

The ministry said the move was in accordance with updated European Commission guidelines and that Estonia would talk to other border nations about implementing the measure.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the ban was "the right thing to do" amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

Russia's Defense Ministry says a Ukrainian cruise missile attack on a shipyard in the city of Sevastopol damaged two ships undergoing repairs.

"The Ukrainian armed forces launched a strike with 10 cruise missiles at the S. Ordzhonikidze ship repair plant," the Russian ministry said on Telegram.

It added that Ukraine had also "attempted an attack with three unmanned boats at a detachment of ships of the Black Sea fleet" but that these, along with seven cruise missiles, had been destroyed.

Sevastopol, on the Russian-occupied peninsula of Crimea, is the home port of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

The city's Russia-appointed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the attack caused a fire and injured 24 people. He posted a photo of himself with the shipyard in flames and smoke billowing overhead. 

The vessels were said to be in dry dock and undergoing repairs. US military bloggers said a Kilo-class submarine and a landing ship had been hit. The Kilo class is a diesel-powered vessel that started production in the 1980s.

Kyiv has targeted Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, throughout Moscow's Ukraine offensive but the peninsula has recently come under more frequent and intense attacks.

Ukraine has repeatedly said it plans to take back the territory.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the bloc will extend special protections for Ukrainian citizens who fled Russia's war, and reaffirmed Brussels' support for Kyiv.

"Our support to Ukraine will endure," von der Leyen said in her annual policy speech to the European Parliament.

Lawmakers gave a standing ovation as von der Leyen paid tribute to Victoria Amelina, a Ukrainian writer and activist who died of her wounds after a Russian missile attack in eastern Ukraine. She said that the EU would "keep the memory of Victoria — and all other victims — alive."

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un has told Russian President Vladimir Putin his country is ready to help Moscow protect its security interests in an apparent reference to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Kim referred to Russia's "sacred fight" and said Pyongyang would always stand with Moscow, calling North Korea's relations with Russia "the first priority."

The two leaders met at a remote Siberian rocket launch facility, the Vostochny Cosmodrome, for a summit that underscored their separate, intensifying confrontations with the West.

Putin welcomed Kim to Russia, saying he was glad to see him. He listed economic cooperation, humanitarian issues and the "situation in the region" as agenda items for the talks.

A senior Ukrainian official says the country has nearly completed repairs of its power systems and is ready to face the winter.

Russian air strikes pounded Ukraine's energy infrastructure with frequent missile and drone attacks last winter.

"We have installed all the equipment we planned and we are ready for the winter loads," Volodymyr Kudrytskiy, the head of the state-owned Ukrenergo power grid operator, told national television.

Russia's campaign caused power cuts and blackouts last winter that left towns and cities in darkness for hours at a time.

While Kudrytskiy said there was a "high risk" of a renewed campaign of attacks, Ukrainian air defenses were now far stronger.

"We know what it looks like [to be attacked] and it will be very difficult for the enemy to surprise us after the 1,200 missiles they fired at the power system last winter," he said.

Earlier this year, Kudrytskiy said fast repairs and equipment sent by Kyiv's Western partners had proved particularly helpful last winter, allowing residents and businesses to cope.

rc/msh (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)