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Ukraine war briefing: Russian attacks force closure of Ukraine’s largest steelmaker

The world’s second biggest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, has closed Ukraine’s largest steel plant, highlighting the growing economic toll from Russian airstrikes. The multinational ⁠said on Friday it had told the Ukrainian government that “safe and sustainable” operations were not possible after four strikes in five weeks caused extensive damage and killed five workers at the plant in Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine. The decision is another blow to Ukraine’s steel sector, which used to account for 15% of the country’s exports ⁠but has come under pressure from Russian attacks and restrictions from the EU. Russia has increased airstrikes on Ukraine in recent months using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones that have hit businesses, logistics networks, Black Sea port facilities and civilian infrastructure. The ArcelorMittal closure comes as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said ⁠on Friday that Russia was constantly expanding its attacks on infrastructure Ukrainians relied on for daily life, such as datacentres and warehouses. “There were also drone strikes today on a warehouse used by McDonald’s. An attack drone – against ordinary food products … American and other businesses, datacentres, internet providers – for Russia, ordinary life in and of itself is simply a target,” Zelenskyy said on X. “All of this undermines people’s ability to stay connected, study, and work.” The Ukrainian president said the European Union and the International Monetary Fund understood the importance of helping Kyiv finance its budget deficit and ⁠defence spending. Ukraine is seeking ⁠an additional $27bn from partners this year for defence, saying the cost of the war has risen. Kyiv has asked to ⁠bring forward part of a loan from the EU. Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed to order drones in October and November or ‌it would face challenges ‌at the start of next year. “Everyone understands that Ukraine cannot be alone, and that more ‌investment is needed in Ukrainian-made drones and missiles,” he told reporters in a WhatsApp briefing. Zelenskyy has asked Donald Trump to press China’s leader to use Beijing’s influence over Moscow to get Russia to end the war. On Friday, Zelenskyy told reporters he had not yet heard from the White House about Trump’s talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping but expected to learn the outcome soon. Zelenskyy was in the US this week on a trip coinciding with the UN general assembly. He met Trump on Tuesday. Nato countries have called China a “decisive enabler” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Meanwhile, Putin has claimed Russia is not preparing for “any kind” of conflict with Europe. Putin made his comments after warnings from some European Nato members of potential Russian attacks on the alliance’s territory, including Denmark’s defence intelligence service, which this week warned of a “low but growing risk” that Russia could launch long-range strikes on Nato infrastructure supporting Ukraine. Putin said Russia had “no real motive” to escalate tensions and criticised European countries that have suggested otherwise. “I want to emphasise once again: we are not preparing for any kind of hostilities with Europe,” he said. Senior European officials have sought to play down fears that ⁠potential election victories by Ukraine-sceptic parties in France and Germany could undermine support for Kyiv. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, officials acknowledged risks posed by shifting electoral tides but said support ⁠for Kyiv would endure. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys acknowledged elections were one of the factors shaping calculations about future support but said backing for Ukraine would endure even if some countries became less committed: “If someone additionally will fall from those ⁠strong supporters of Ukraine, others will stand because this is in our interest.” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said concerns about elections should not distract Europe from Ukraine’s immediate needs. “The main thing is not only about elections, it’s about Ukraine,” he said. A bipartisan group of 14 senators is urging Trump to rescind the invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit to be held in Florida in December. “President Putin bears sole responsibility for launching Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine. Allowing him to participate in a G20 Summit in the United States raises serious concerns about legitimising and normalising a government that continues to attack Ukrainian civilian targets every day,” the senators wrote in a letter. Among those who signed the letter are Jeanne Shaheen, Mitch McConnell, Roger Wicker, and Chris Coons.

Alarm at UN over sanctions threatened by US on international criminal court

The US threat to impose sanctions on the international criminal court (ICC) as an institution, not just its leading judges, could fundamentally disrupt its operation and needed to be resisted, a coalition of countries to defend international law heard at the United Nations on Friday. Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s foreign minister, issued the warning at an event during the UN general assembly called to protect the system of international law from a growing array of threats, including open flouting of its tenets and rulings by Israel. The meeting was organised by the Hague Group, of which Lamola is co-chair, and which was set up in 2025 to protect international law and to call for the proper enforcement of the rulings of its two primary bodies: the ICC and the international court of justice (ICJ). Lamola told the gathering that the US had already sanctioned ICC judges and prosecutors, but was now planning sanctions against the ICC itself. “If imposed, such measures could fundamentally disrupt its operations,” he said. “An independent court remains independent only if judges and officials cannot be punished for carrying out their mandates.” The head of the ICC, Judge Tomoko Akane of Japan, was sanctioned by the US in August, along with senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal, for engaging in the ICC’s efforts to “prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction”. The attack on Akane was condemned this week by the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. The US has admitted it seeks to dismantle the Hague-based ICC. In his address to the UN general assembly this week, Donald Trump once again criticised the “out of control” court, which he smeared as an “evil group of people” and urged other nations to reject. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has accused the court of being “a corrupt and fatally politicised supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate. We will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty.” The next step by the US is likely to be to impose secondary sanctions on anyone who cooperates with the court, as opposed to sanctioning its senior judiciary. A designation of the whole institution would reach every European bank, insurer and technology supplier serving the court, which sits in the Netherlands. The Dutch government, as the host of the ICC, is taking the lead in trying to warn the US away from the effective immobilisation of the court. The Dutch prime minister, Rob Jetten, told the UN general assembly: “International law either works for everyone or for no one. This court was established to protect us against impunity and it was built on the foundations of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials. And now, with the ICC under attack, the writing is truly on the wall. “After all, how can you possibly be opposed to prosecuting the very worst crimes? And I believe there can be only one response: to say, hands off the ICC and all those other institutions that protect the international legal order.” William Schabas, a specialist in international law, noted to the meeting the irony that the resort to international law and courts was increasing dramatically even as the institutions were under attack. He said nations needed to strengthen the ICC, including by ensuring positions are not traded and only the highest calibre judges are elected. Diana Buttu, the prominent Palestinian lawyer, was among many to complain of western powers’ partial resort to international law. “The greatest threat to international law is not the state that openly defies it,” she said. “The greatest threat is our selectivity – the quiet decision that is made in capitals and rooms that the rules don’t bind everybody, they only bind some. It is the belief that we can excuse some because they are our allies, our partners and our friends.”

Alberta’s self-image as world’s only rat-free region shattered by discovery of rat

For more than seven decades, residents of Alberta have shared something in common with Antarctica and the high Arctic: all locations are officially free of rats. But on Thursday the Canadian province’s reputation as a firewall against rodent infestation took a hit when the town of Bowden announced the discovery of a dead rat and called on the province’s “rat patrol” to investigate. “If you’ve noticed rat droppings or any signs of rats, please contact Rat Patrol Alberta so they can follow up,” the town said in a statement. “Please stay alert and report any sightings.” Officials in Bowden did not say where in the town the rat was found. But as global temperatures increase, rat numbers have surged in major cities. Over the past decade, rats increased by 390% in Washington DC, 300% in San Francisco and 162% in New York, according to researchers, who analysed public sightings and infestation reports. Toronto, Canada’s largest city, is facing a “perfect rat storm”, with numbers up 186% in the last 10 years. Unlike other regions in the world that have been overrun by the wily and adaptable urban mammals, Alberta has actively fought rats from entering at all. “Albertans have enjoyed living without the menace of rats since 1950 when the Rat Control Program was established,” the province says in its rat guide. It cites both the province’s unique geography, with mountain ranges and boreal forest surrounding most of Alberta, and the fact that the Norway rat – “one of the most destructive creatures known to man”, the province claims – cannot survive in vast natural areas and cannot overwinter in cultivated fields. The very lack of the humans and their structures that rats need to survive has given the province a chance to ward off infestation. In the 1950s, suspecting rats might try to enter from the east by way of neighbouring Saskatchewan, Alberta officials created a “rat control zone” – a strip of land measuring 373 miles by 18 miles (600km by 30km) – to monitor incursions that ranges from Cold Lake in the north to the Montana border in the south. In addition, from June 1952 to July 1953, 140,000lb of 73% arsenic trioxide powder was used to treat 8,000 buildings on 2,700 farms to slow the spread of rats. The province also amended the Agricultural Pests Act of Alberta in 1950, obliging “every person and municipality” to destroy rats they found; made posters reminiscent of a national war effort; and hosted a radio show, Call of the Land, to educate residents. Today, there are dedicated telephone lines and an email address to report rats. But while the rat patrol receives hundreds of calls each year, it says the vast majority are not rats but muskrats, voles and field mice. Still, it concedes there are exceptions. “Alberta’s rat-free status means there is no resident population of rats and they are not allowed to establish themselves. It does not mean we never get rats.”

Pope Leo warns of AI threat to humanity at start of three-day France visit

Pope Leo has warned against losing humanity in a “paradise of machines” as he addressed global concerns over the dangers of artificial intelligence at the start of a three-day visit to France. “If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for people to be educated in ethical discernment, capable of seeing what is morally right,” he said in a speech at the Élysée. At a second address on Friday, the 71-year-old head of the Catholic church insisted that new technologies must “remain at the service of the human person rather than becoming yet another instrument of domination and injustice” in remarks to a gathering at the Paris headquarters ⁠of the UN culture and education body, ⁠Unesco. “Every science risks losing its proper meaning when pursued without ethics,” he said. “Certain artificial systems have even been given the name of our human faculty of thought: intelligence. At the same time, however, our ideas and relationships risk being impoverished by a process of dehumanisation.” He added: “While intelligence is attributed to computational systems, we struggle to recognise the inalienable dignity of human persons whose lives are judged according to the criterion of efficiency and when deemed no longer productive, rejected and discarded.” Leo also criticised world leaders who disrespect the ⁠rule of ⁠law, without naming individuals. “Instead of respecting ‌the law, ‌those in power invoke ‌it when it serves their interests and disregard it when it restrains them, treating even justice itself ‌as though it were a commodity to be bought and sold,” he said. Leo, who became pope in 2025, ⁠has been critical of the direction of global leadership in recent months. He said ‌the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” last April. The first official papal visit to France in 18 years comes as Emmanuel Macron’s decade in office draws to an end ahead of next spring’s French presidential election, for which the far-right, anti-immigration Marine Le Pen is polling high. Pope Francis did not make a full state visit to France during his 12-year pontificate and refused to join the inauguration of the rebuilt Notre Dame Cathedral in 2024. After France passed legislation in June granting some adult patients the right to assisted dying, the pontiff said he was concerned by trends “that risk turning science and technology into profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one’s own death.” A key moment of the three-day visit will be a giant outdoor mass on Saturday, led by the pontiff at Place de la Concorde. The pope, whose paternal grandmother was born in France, on Friday urged Paris to remain a “tireless champion of peace” worldwide. On Monday, he will deliver a speech on European peace in the eastern city of Metz as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues into its fifth year. Leo called on the world not to ⁠become indifferent to the pain caused by “the scourge of war”. He told Macron and other French politicians: “I urge you ‘… never to grow resigned to the prospect of war or to ⁠consider it ‘inevitable’.” Leo will also visit Lourdes, a pilgrimage site for Christians worldwide, where he will privately meet seven victims of clerical sex abuse. After some survivors’ groups suggested a larger number of survivors should have been canvassed, the Catholic church said the pontiff was seeking in-depth dialogue with individuals. France’s Catholic bishops’ conference has agreed to provide compensation after a 2021 report estimated that 330,000 children were sexually abused over 70 years by priests or other church-related figures in France. The report described a “systemic” cover-up by church officials. In recent years, further accusations have emerged, including against workers at the elite Catholic boarding school Notre-Dame de Bétharram, near Lourdes. On his flight to Paris, Pope Leo told reporters they were welcome to cover him, as he responded to the Trump administration’s attempt to bar US media from the White House and affirmed the importance of journalists covering public figures. Asked by a CNN reporter about Donald Trump’s attempt to bar CNN and other reporters, Leo said the media were welcome on his plane. “I am very happy that here, you are all welcome,” he said.

Trump faces tough choices as Iran dangles deal to reopen Hormuz before US midterms

Iran’s seven-day timetable to reopen the strait of Hormuz and start talks on its nuclear programme has been pitched as a deal that could rapidly extricate Donald Trump from a political crisis but requires the US president to make difficult concessions. In the five days left before the proposed reopening of the strait, which is expected to relieve pressure on global energy markets, Trump would need to lift Iranian asset freezes, permit Iran to export its oil and, probably most difficult of all, order Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, thus achieving the “ceasefire on all fronts”. Iranian diplomats in New York said they thought a three-hour meeting earlier this week with the US envoy Steve Witkoff in which they laid out the seven-day plan was productive, but were doubtful the US would deliver. Iran nevertheless feels it has done the diplomatic spadework, taking the proposal to China for endorsement and ensuring that Oman, located on the south side of the strait, was also on board. The foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, explained that the idea was to take the elements of the Iran-US memorandum of understanding that Trump signed in June and repackage and accelerate the process since, as they understood it, Trump had come to hate the MoU. “The conditions we have asked the US to meet is nothing new, nothing more than what was already in the Islamabad agreement, which was signed by the US president,” Araghchi said. But what is new is the speed. In the first four to five days under this timetable, the US would have to lift the naval blockade on Iran’s oil ports, restore the waiver that lifted sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, end the war on all fronts and permit the release of some of Iran’s frozen assets. On the sixth day, the strait of Hormuz would be reopened by Iran, with ships using a new route designated by Oman and Iran. And on the next day, negotiations would start on the future of Iran’s civil nuclear programme, including a protocol to allow UN nuclear inspectors back in to look at Iran’s damaged sites and the stockpile of highly enriched uranium. This accelerates the point at which nuclear talks would begin, from 60 days in the June agreement to seven. Those talks could, of course, take a long time, but from Trump’s perspective, the strait of Hormuz would be reopened before the midterm elections, a point in the political calendar that the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, says has never been a factor in Iranian thinking. Trump had claimed Iran was waiting until after the vote to offer a deal. Iran, Araghchi argued at a largely off-the-record briefing with reporters – at which Pezeshkian was also present – had every reason not to negotiate with the US. In particular, he admitted to being sceptical that Witkoff could deliver. He recounted how he had twice held talks with Trump’s special envoy, after which Witkoff had described them as “productive and good”, only for the US to bomb Iran the next day. Other Iranian diplomats say Trump’s willingness to rein in Netanyahu in Lebanon remains key. If he could do that, a deal would be feasible. It is a difficult deal for Trump to swallow since the strait would reopen largely on Iran’s terms, with the new route predominantly going through Iranian waters. Saudi Arabia is also concerned that the route deal is bilateral between Iran and Oman, and not with the Gulf states as joint signatories. Trump says he has a choice to make between the annihilation of Iran and engagement – an engagement that, he says with typical hyperbole, could make Iran one of the great countries of the world. In reality, the judgment he has to make is more prosaic. Is he prepared to go back to war with Iran after the midterms and, if not, does he believe the US can squeeze the Iranian economy so hard that the leadership will succumb. Pezeshkian, who handed all questions about the talks to Araghchi, admitted Iranians wanted the war to end and did not deny the economic pressure, but said the public had withstood sanctions for 45 years. He also insisted Iran’s decision-making machinery was functioning. The reclusive supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was completely healthy, he claimed, a testimony based on spending seven hours in his presence. He did not explain why, apart from security, Khamenei had not issued a voice recording, photograph or video as proof of life.

Pope Leo warns against AI and says technology ‘must remain at service of humans’ during first visit to France – as it happened

And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today. Pope Leo has warned against AI creating “a paradise of machines” as he expressed concerned about “losing our humanity” as a result of the uncontrolled technological advance, including the AI (12:49). In later remarks at Unesco, Leo cautioned that technology “must remain at the service of humans,” and not become instrument of “domination and injustice” (15:54). He warned that rapid technological advancements, if not underpinned by “a shared ethical foundation,” could “hinder dialogue rather than foster it” (16:00). Opening the first papal visit to France in 18 years, Pope Leo also stressed the country’s history “rooted in the Catholic tradition” (12:41) and stressed that “authentic secularity” does not exclude religion. Speaking alongside France’s president Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace, he also appeared to criticise the country’s assisted dying laws (12:55), warning about “a temptation to look to science for a solution and a consolation for all our suffering.” Pope Leo also urged everyone not to be “indifferent to suffering” and the “scourge” of war, while also calling for “dialogue and diplomacy” instead of conflicts, and criticising “the mistaken belief” that nuclear arms “guarantee security, … fuelling a new and difficult to control arms race” (13:02). The pontiff also criticised global leaders as he said “instead of respecting the law, those in power invoke it when it serves their interests and disregard it when it restrains them, treating even justice itself as though it were a commodity to be bought and sold” (16:04). His four-day pilgrimage to France – unexpectedly popular, with up to a million people expected to attend all events (10:42) - continues with a visit at the Notre Dame Cathedral today, and further plans in Paris, Lourdes and Metz over the weekend (10:28). If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Pakistan locks down Islamabad as Imran Khan’s party vows to march on capital

Leaders from Imran Khan’s party have vowed to go ahead with a nationwide demonstration in Pakistan to demand the former prime minister’s release, even as the government deployed tens of thousands of police to Islamabad, barricaded highways and issued arrest warrants to try to stop the march. The state has taken extreme measures to prevent Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party from proceeding with the march. It was announced after mounting concerns of the treatment of Khan, who has been in jail since 2023 on corruption charges. On Friday, PTI leaders said they would postpone the start of the march until 4 October, a week after the original 27 September date, saying they hoped the delay would put further strain on the government. Analysts said the protest could present a major challenge to the military-backed government, which is widely regarded as weak, illegitimate and unpopular, while Khan remains a popular rallying figure. The ruling coalition is led by the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, but the army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, is widely seen as the country’s de facto leader. This week, dozens of PTI leaders and ministers have been detained or made subject of arrest warrants, while Khan’s three sisters were arrested on Monday and remain in jail, charged with posing a grave threat to security. Among those facing arrest is Sohail Afridi, the chief minister of Khan’s home province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PTI’s stronghold, from where thousands of supporters are expected to join the march to the capital. Afridi said the PTI would carry out the march unless the government made significant concessions over Khan’s treatment and conditions in jail, including a fair hearing for Khan’s cases. “The government is panicking – that’s why they have put Islamabad under siege, that’s why they are abducting our ministers,” he said. “But Imran Khan is the most popular leader of the country and people will come out for him. I am certain they won’t be able to stop the public power of the masses when they come out on streets and take to Islamabad.” Afridi acknowledged that the scale of the security deployment had led many to fear there could be a violent confrontation to prevent Khan’s supporters from entering the capital, as had been seen in previous demonstrations. The government has already deployed tens of thousands of security officials to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and shut down the main highway connecting the provincial capital, Peshawar, to Islamabad. “I know they can go to any extent to stop us by brute force, we have no doubt about it,” Afridi said. “But if we have a large number of people, they can’t open fire at us. Our plan is to bring so many people that they surrender.” Faisal Karim Kundi, a central government appointee as governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, defended the security measures being taken against PTI as precautionary and accused the party of trying to create “instability and violence”. “The state can’t allow any violent group to march on Islamabad,” Kundi said. Public frustration has mounted in Islamabad as the government’s measures to stop Khan’s party supporters having any way to enter the capital has led to the city resembling a high-security fortress. More than 1,000 shipping containers, many fortified with spikes, have blockaded roads and sandbags were placed on bridges, while a key highway into the capital was closed. Public gatherings have been banned in Islamabad and 22,000 police and other security personnel have been deployed across the capital. The government’s shutdown has fuelled anger and frustration in the capital, with many businesses unable to get supplies. Shahid, 76, a retired businessman, said: “The entire city is suffering. The government has shut down the whole city and we, as citizens, are helpless. I have never seen such a situation. Joblessness, inflation and insecurity has made our lives hell but does the government care? No.” Despite the considerable efforts by the government and the military to crush Khan’s party and remove the former prime minister from the public consciousness – with media organisations instructed to not even refer to him by name – Khan is still viewed by many as the political alternative to the current regime. The PTI alleges Khan is being held in solitary confinement and has been denied adequate medical treatment and any contact with his family or his lawyers for months. Khan denies all the charges against him and alleges he is being imprisoned due to the political threat he poses to the government and the military. All but one of the court rulings against Khan have been overturned. Analysts say the government and its military backers fear the PTI protest could escalate into a movement that could topple their administration, similar to protests seen in nearby Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. “They have an eye on what has happened in south Asia over the last five years, where country after country has seen huge protests snowballing suddenly out of nowhere and sweeping away a government,” said Niaz Murtaza, a Pakistani political columnist. “Given the breadth of grievances in Pakistan at the moment, the performance of the government has been so poor on the economy and security, while the repression is so high, that they are very nervous that the whole situation could combust very quickly.”