Hope on the Horizon: Zelensky’s Bold Claim – Peace May Be Closer Than You Think

In eastern Ukraine, Putin’s troops are massively attacking the defenders. Meanwhile, President Zelensky is making people sit up and take notice. All the information in the news blog.

Media: Russian military man apparently commits suicide

5:36 am: A high-ranking Russian ruler has apparently taken his own life. This is reported by the usually knowledgeable Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Accordingly, Yuri Annekov committed suicide on September 23, as the ISW claimed to have learned from Russian sources.

3:36 am: On Monday the foreign ministers of the G7 countries will discuss possible deliveries of longer range missiles to Ukraine that could reach Russian territory. This was announced by the head of EU foreign policy, Josep Borrell, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. It is also clear that Russia is receiving new weapons – including Iranian missiles, although Tehran has repeatedly denied this.

2.35am: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is optimistic about an early end to the war against Russia. “I think we are closer to peace than we think,” Zelensky said in an interview with US broadcaster ABC News. The end of the war is near. In the interview, he calls on the USA and other partners to continue to support Ukraine.

Later, Selenskyj followed with “Telegram”. According to the Ukrainian president, decisive measures by the US government could speed up the end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year. “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the USA,” Zelensky wrote in a post on his Telegram channel after a meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress.

1.05 am: A US citizen has been sentenced to six years in prison in Russia because, according to the judiciary, he wanted to leave the country with his Russian son without his mother’s permission. The man was found guilty of attempted “kidnapping” on Monday by a court in the Kaliningrad checkpoint. So he has to serve his sentence in a penal colony.

According to the ruling, the US citizen tried to travel to Poland with his four-year-old son in July 2023. “Without obtaining the mother’s consent, he tried to take the child out of the country,” the court said on Telegram online service. Accordingly, he tried to cross the border into Poland with the boy through a wooded area before he was stopped by border officials.

The relationship between the USA and Russia is extremely tense, especially because of the conflict in Ukraine. In recent years, a number of US citizens and nationals of other Western countries have been arrested and convicted in Russia.

12:15 am: After a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in New York, Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the importance of supporting Germany. “We are extremely grateful to Germany for its support,” Zelenskyj said on the online service X on Monday “Together we have saved thousands of lives, and we can certainly do even more to strengthen security across the entire European continent.” Scholz reiterated the federal government’s stance not to provide long-term weapons to Ukraine.

The conversation with the Chancellor was about what paths to peace could be opened after two and a half years of war in Ukraine, Zelenskyj continued. There had already been a successful peace conference, he said, probably with regard to the Ukraine conference in June in Switzerland, in which Russia did not participate. A second conference is currently being prepared. “This is a tangible platform for the full restoration of security in Ukraine and across Europe.”

12:04 am: What individual Ukrainian managers had already reported to the “Financial Times” (see also yesterday’s entry, 5:32 pm) is now being confirmed by the leadership in Kiev. According to their own statements, the Ukrainian military is under great pressure in the east of the country. “The situation in the Pokrovsk and Kurachove area remains tense,” the General Staff in Kiev said in their evening situation report. Of the 125 Russian attacks along the front, more than 50 were conducted in this section. “The enemy made the main efforts towards Pokrovsk,” noted the Ukrainian military leadership.