Kiev

The Kremlin said on Thursday that an updated nuclear doctrine that will allow Moscow to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states should be seen as a warning to the West.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 25 announced plans to broaden Russia's rules on the use of its nuclear weaponry, allowing it to unleash a nuclear response in the event of a "massive" air attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday arrived in the United States for a crucial visit to present Kiev's plan to end two and a half years of war with Russia.

Zelensky will present his proposals — which he calls a "victory plan" — to U.S. President Joe Biden, as well as presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will attend the 79th U.N. General Assembly where he will address other world leaders on current global issues, particularly the ongoing Israeli massacres against civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Russia today warned the West and Ukraine of “catastrophic consequences” if Kiev moves against Russia’s close ally Belarus, making clear it will intervene to defend a country in which it has regularly deployed nuclear weapons.

Ukraine has agreed to transit natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe as an interim measure following the expiration of its transit agreement with Russia, although it expects that the quantities of gas from Azerbaijan will include quantities of Russian gas, the news website Ukrainska Pravda wrote today.

The EU plans to lend Ukraine 35 billion euros ($39 billion), backed by the revenues of Russian assets frozen in the bloc, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Friday.

Outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that both sides of the Atlantic need each other in the face of growing challenges, noting that there is no secure Europe without Türkiye, Norway, the U.K. and U.S.

Outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will caution the United States and Europe against "isolationism" in his parting speech on Thursday, as Donald Trump vies to return to the White House.

"We have heard voices on both sides of the Atlantic calling for America and Europe to part ways," he was to say in a speech on Thursday afternoon in Brussels, according to excerpts seen by AFP.

Russia's counteroffensive to retake Ukrainian-held territory in the Kursk region has been "stopped", a spokesman from Ukraine's military administration there told AFP on Wednesday, after Moscow said it was beginning to repel the surprise incursion.

Ukraine on Monday said it had asked the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to verify the situation in areas of Russia's Kursk region seized by Kiev, in a move branded as "provacation" by Russia.