Ukraine's armed forces face a challenging fall as Russia intensifies efforts to seize the eastern Donetsk region

Live updates and the latest news as Marco Rubio meets Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov at the United Nations after Donald Trump shifted his stance on the Ukraine war.

The EU is preparing a new mechanism to help Ukraine use Russian assets. This involves a reparations loan that will only be repaid after payments from Russia, according to Reuters. Russia's frozen assets After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022,

The Russian finance ministry said on Wednesday it was proposing to raise the rate of value-added tax (VAT) to 22% from 20% from 2026 in order to fund military expenditure in what would be the fourth year of the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine has ramped up strikes on energy sites to increase pressure on Russia, which relies on revenue from oil and gas exports.

The total combat losses of Russian troops from February 24, 2022, to September 23, 2025, in the war against Ukraine amount to about 1,103,580 soldiers, including 1,010 servicemen in the past 24 hours.

Donald Trump has made a chilling remark to NATO leaders about Russian drones after several Kremlin drones entered foreign airspace in recent weeks. Pic: Michael M. Santiago/

The US president declined to say whether Washington would support the military alliance if it engaged Russian jets over its airspace.