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Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy says Moscow terrorising Ukrainians as fresh strikes kill eight

As Russian drones struck Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was showing no signs of de-escalating the war despite assurances to the US that it would. In a statement on X, Zelenskyy accused Russia of terrorising Ukrainians with its latest attacks, which he said included setting on fire a market outside Kyiv, and striking kindergartens, schools, homes and communications facilities. “Anywhere in the world, this choice of targets would be called by one word – terrorism. Russia has no military objective whatsoever in doing this – it is purely an attempt to break people and inflict as much harm as possible on our society,” Zelenskyy said. “If Russia were truly preparing for any real steps toward de-escalation – as it claims, particularly to American negotiators – this wave of … terror would not be happening,” he said, calling on the US to fully implement the Lindsey Graham Act, which enables sweeping sanctions on Russia aimed at pressing it into ending the war. Zelenskyy’s comments came ahead of the conclusion of the UN general assembly in New York on Monday. On the weekend, the foreign ministers of Russia and Germany met in New York on the sidelines of the ⁠assembly to discuss the war but Russia’s top diplomat dismissed Germany’s calls to ease off its “dangerous path of escalation” towards Europe. Zelenskyy said on X that Ukraine was relying on “effective decisions” being made by other countries and stronger pressure from its partners in the G7 and G20, “so that Russia sees that manipulating diplomatic signals will not allow it to keep winning more and more time for war and terror”. New sanctions packages targeting financial networks, supply chains and companies and individuals helping produce Russian weapons “must take effect as early as October” Zelenskyy said also, to provide a stronger foundation for changing the situation and “pushing Russia toward real diplomacy”. Russian strikes killed eight people across Ukraine on Sunday, according to authorities while Zelenskyy said Russia had fired about 3,900 drones, aerial bombs and other missiles at Ukraine over the past week. Ukrainian prosecutors said a drone attack hit a market in Sofiiska Borshchahivka on the western outskirts of Kyiv, killing two and injuring about 10 people. Others died in strikes in different regions and Kyiv also came under attack, local officials said. In the capital, ⁠Mayor Vitali Klitschko said nine people were injured, including a child. Russia hit also the headquarters of Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile service provider on Sunday, the company told local media, as Moscow continued a bombardment of Ukrainian ⁠datacentres and communications infrastructure. Kyivstar told Interfax Ukraine news agency that its head office in Kyiv had been hit, but there were no casualties. Peter Beaumont and Artem Mazhulin have reported on the dire living conditions inside Oleshky, across the Dnipro River from the southern city of Kherson. Life in the city – once home to 24,000 people but now with only 2,000 remaining – has become “a hell on earth”, according to Ukrainians familiar with conditions there. South ⁠Korea has demanded an official ⁠explanation and apology from Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of disclosing the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea and then falsely denying that the two sides had agreed to keep the move ⁠confidential, according to a report from Reuters. “The presidential office expresses strong regret over Ukraine’s unilateral disclosure and its subsequent false announcement that there had not been a non-disclosure agreement,” Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said in a statement on Sunday. According to the statement, President Zelenskyy disclosed the transfer in his address to the UN general assembly. Ukraine’s embassy in Seoul did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Trump asked Xi Jinping if China would like to buy US weapons, American ambassador says

Donald Trump offered to sell weapons to China while hosting its leader, Xi Jinping, last week, the US ambassador to China said on Sunday. David Perdue told Fox News on Sunday: “President Trump continues to say, hey, we sell arms to other people around the world. He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some at one point.” The extraordinary claim came during an interview about US policy on Taiwan, which has been waiting for months for Trump to approve a new arms sales ⁠package worth $14bn, after a record multi-billion dollar deal was unveiled in December last year. Trump’s level of commitment to protecting Taiwan has previously been questioned. At a meeting with Xi in Beijing in May, ⁠Trump said he was keeping the $14bn Taiwan arms sales package in abeyance, describing it as a “very good negotiating chip” in dealings with China. Washington has long maintained a strategically ambiguous stance on whether it would defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion. But under the decades-old Taiwan Relations Act, it is required to provide Taipei with sufficient military equipment to defend itself. Beijing has repeatedly said it “resolutely opposes” Washington’s arms sales to the island democracy, which it regards as a breakaway province, despite never having ruled it, and has not renounced the use of force to take. During their Washington meeting last week, Xi urged Trump to oppose “Taiwan independence,” according to a readout from the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. After Purdue’s interview, the White House told the New York Times that the US had no plans to sell arms to China, while the state department said: “US law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.” Before the interview, Taiwanese deputy foreign minister Chen Ming-chi spoke of the severe military threat China posed. “Taiwan faces a severe situation in the Taiwan strait. Even though China’s economy is declining, it continues investing more resources into building military capacity. Under ‌this context, the US very much understands our defence needs,” he told reporters in Taipei. Trump has not mentioned the sale ‌since last week’s summit, saying ‌only on Saturday that Xi understands his position on Taiwan. Perdue himself told CNBC on Friday that there had been no change in Taiwan policy by Trump, including on arms sales. With Reuters

Failure to protect free speech could cost Labour votes at next election, says Liberty

Free speech will be a big concern for voters at the next general election, with the government’s current approach on the issue perceived by many to be bad for Britain, polling suggests. Three in five people said a political party’s position on free speech would affect how they voted at a general election. The human rights organisation Liberty, which commissioned the polling from More in Common, claimed the results showed that Labour’s failure to protect free speech could cost it votes. A significant proportion of those polled felt certain policies and rhetoric by politicians had been detrimental for free speech. For example, two in five said arrests of people for holding signs in support of the banned group Palestine Action had had a negative effect on freedom of speech. That compared with one in five who said it was positive. Only about one in seven thought Andy Burnham cared more about protecting free speech than his predecessor, Keir Starmer. Akiko Hart, the director of Liberty, said: “The ability to express ourselves freely makes us all who we are, and free speech is of vital importance to the British public. These findings should serve as a stark wake-up call for the government, which has lost the public’s confidence on protecting this fundamental human right. “We’re fortunate to live in a nation shaped by many identities and perspectives, which means differences of opinion and sometimes uncomfortable views that could upset or offend others. This requires the government to adopt a consistent, non-partisan approach to safeguard everyone’s right to speak freely while protecting people from discrimination.” The polling, released ahead of a joint Liberty and More in Common panel event at the Labour party conference on Monday, also found that more than a third of people believe politicians calling for phrases to be banned at protests is bad for free speech, compared with just over a quarter who think it is positive. When asked about police getting greater powers to restrict protests or marches, a similar proportion – a third – believed it was good as thought it was bad. More than half of people polled said calling protests “hate marches” or “thuggery” had been bad. Starmer called for “tougher action” against people who used phrases such as “globalise the intifada” – intifada is an Arabic word that translates as uprising or “shaking off” – at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and there have been arrests. The Crime and Policing Act, which received royal assent in April under Starmer, gave police increased powers to restrict protests, including requiring them to consider the “cumulative impact” of repeated demonstrations in the same area when imposing conditions. Many civil society groups were critical of the measure. Since Palestine Action became the first direct action protest group to be proscribed, in July last year, more than 3,600 people are believed to have been arrested for showing support for the organisation, most for holding placards saying “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”. Arrests have continued since Burnham entered office. The UK supreme court will hear an appeal against the ban in November, having decided it is arguable that proscription represents a disproportionate interference with articles 10 and 11 of the European convention on human rights, which protect the rights of freedom of speech and protest respectively. Both left and right have complained about so-called “cancel culture” in recent years, with each side portraying the other as the chief culprit. Hart said: “The prime minister must show urgent leadership on an issue that is dividing the country, and change course away from heavier restrictions and towards a principled defence of free speech.” A Home Office spokesperson said: “Freedom of speech and peaceful protest are fundamental rights that this government will always protect. But there is a clear difference between expressing a view and engaging in unlawful behaviour – such as inciting hatred and violence or supporting proscribed organisations. It is right that as a society and a government, we draw that line clearly.” The Labour party was also approached for comment. More in Common polled a nationally representative sample of 2,017 people in Great Britain between 11 and 15 September.

Formerly enslaved people in Guyana embraced collective action | Letter

Your report (British corporation continued trafficking of enslaved Africans to Guyana 40 years after abolition, 23 August) tells one important part of Guyana’s post-slavery history. There is another that deserves to be better known. In 1839, little more than a year after full emancipation in British Guiana, 83 formerly enslaved men and women pooled their savings to buy the 200-hectare (500-acre) Northbrook plantation. They renamed it Victoria. Other purchases by other groups followed, developing into what became known as the communal African village movement. These were not simply individual acts of property ownership. Many had kept their hard-earned savings buried for safekeeping; the first payment for Northbrook was reportedly carried to Georgetown in coins in a wheelbarrow. Formerly enslaved people went on to buy land collectively, establish villages and devise their own arrangements for managing roads, land and other shared resources. Victoria had established its own code of local government by 1845. Having worked in Guyana, I have always found this one of the most remarkable parts of its history. At almost the same moment that plantation interests were trying to perpetuate the old system, people emerging from slavery were demonstrating an extraordinary capacity for collective action, self-government and mutual endeavour. The history of emancipation is not only the history of what was done to formerly enslaved people, but of what they chose to build once they were free. Prof Kathryn A Monk Bristol

Pope Leo urges healing of ‘deep wounds’ before meeting child sexual abuse survivors in France

The pope has called on the Catholic church to heal “deep wounds” and “painful errors”, before a meeting survivors of child sexual abuse as he continues his four-day visit to France. Addressing a crowd in a large field near the Catholic shrine of Lourdes on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV called on the church to reckon with its past, without directly referencing sexual abuse scandals in France that affected at least 330,000 children over seven decades. “In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and ⁠painful errors that have occurred within [the church], we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze,” the first US pope told the estimated crowd of 150,000 people. Leo met seven survivors of child sexual abuse by French clergy privately on Sunday after leading an open-air morning mass at Lourdes, one of the most popular Catholic sites for pilgrims and reputed as a place of healing. The survivors said the pope had listened to them, was informed of their cases and said more work was needed to respond to the scandal. Five of the seven held a press conference in Lourdes . Jean-Marie Delbos said he never thought the day would come when he would meet a pope. He asked Leo to bless a photo of his grandmother, which he did. “It was extraordinary,” he said. During a homily to the faithful, the pope also attacked medically assisted dying as immoral “false compassion” in a staunch articulation of the Catholic church’s teaching that all human life must be defended from conception until natural death. After years of debate, France formally adopted legislation last month allowing incurably ill adults the right to “aid in dying”, joining a small number of countries with similar laws, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Canada. The pope said: “It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral.” The pope was due to take part in six events while in Lourdes, including a meeting with staff and patients at the shrine’s care centre. Lourdes has drawn millions of sick and disabled believers seeking a cure from its spring waters since the Catholic church officially recognised visions of the Virgin Mary reported by a local girl in 1858. Arriving there in a white popemobile on Saturday night, however, Leo would have been reminded of the church’s dark and painful legacy, as he passed boarded-up mosaics by a Jesuit priest who is accused of abusing women over three decades. Marko Rupnik, one of the Catholic church’s best-known mosaic artists, is on trial in a Vatican court, accused by more than two dozen women of having psychologically, spiritually and sexually abused them from the 1990s, including during the creation of his artworks. The bishop of Lourdes ordered the works covered up, reasoning that survivors of abuse seeking succour at the site should not be forced to see them. Rupnik is not known to have commented publicly on the allegations, Reuters reported. Among the survivors who met the pope was a former pupil of the nearby Catholic boarding school Notre-Dame de Bétharram. Former students have recounted their experiences of violence, rape and sexual assault in what is thought to be the biggest child sexual abuse scandal at a school in French history. In an interview published last year, the pope spoke of a crisis of clerical sexual abuse in the church. He also said “victims must be treated with great respect and with an understanding that those who have suffered very deep wounds because of abuse, sometimes carry those wounds for their entire life”, according to a transcript on Vatican News, the Holy See’s official news site. The first official papal visit to France in 18 years follows an announcement last week by the country’s Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation that about 2,000 people who reported sexual abuse by clergy or other church representatives were seeking reparations. France’s Catholic bishops conference agreed to provide compensation after a landmark report in 2021 estimated that 330,000 children were sexually abused over seven decades by predatory priests or other Catholic figures. The two-and-a-half-year independent inquiry found that vast numbers of children were subjected to sexual violence by priests and clergy and that the crimes were covered up in a “systemic way” by a deliberate “veil of silence” in the church. On the day Leo arrived in Paris, a group of survivors published an open letter voicing fears that his visit would change nothing, criticising that the seven he was due to meet in Lourdes were “carefully selected” by the church, rather than survivors’ groups. “You will merely ask us for forgiveness. This is not enough. One does not ask for forgiveness for a crime; one is responsible for a crime,” they wrote in the letter published in the newspaper Libération. The pope arrived to celebrate mass on Sunday morning to a rapturous reception from the faithful, who waved flags and cheered, as they thronged the streets of Lourdes to catch a glimpse of him. The Holy See’s live stream showed Leo making stately progress in his popemobile, stopping frequently to greet and bless babies that were passed to him. The south-western town near the Spanish border is one of the most important Catholic sites in the world, attracting 3 million pilgrims a year. The Associated Press reported that the pope’s visit had caused accommodation prices to soar, with the price of some one-night hotel stays reaching more than €2,000 (£1,700). • In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International

Swiss voters reject stricter neutrality rules that would have curbed Nato cooperation

Swiss voters have decisively rejected a proposal for a strict definition of neutrality that would have required Switzerland to curb cooperation with Nato and abandon sanctions against Russia. All cantons and about 70% of voters rejected the proposal for a strictly defined version of neutrality to be ⁠written into the Swiss constitution, final results from the Federal Statistical Office showed. The motion had been promoted by the far-right Swiss People’s party (SVP). Although the defeat was expected, it will be a relief across Europe, amid increasing strains in maintaining EU unity on sanctions against Russia. Switzerland’s centuries-old neutrality was formally recognised after the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815. Critics of current government policy claim that status has been eroded by Switzerland’s decision to mirror EU sanctions against Russia, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Voters were asked to decide on enshrining the principle of “perpetual and armed neutrality” in the constitution and barring Switzerland from joining any military alliances or imposing sanctions on warring states, unless mandated by the UN. The outcome is a heavy defeat for the SVP’s billionaire backer, Christoph Blocher, who was a prominent supporter of the initiative, reported by Bloomberg to have spent 2m francs (€2.1m, £1.8m) on the campaign. Opponents welcomed the results. “Voters understood what the SVP wanted: it wanted Switzerland to isolate itself internationally and shirk its responsibilities when international law is being trampled on,” said Sibel Arslan, a lawmaker for the Green party. The Swiss government, along with most political parties, opposed the measure, arguing “Switzerland would cease to be a reliable partner in international security policy”, leaving the country less secure in the event of an attack and heavily restricting its ability to cooperate with Nato. Although not a member of Nato, Switzerland has cooperated with the transatlantic military alliance for 30 years. Analysts said the result showed Swiss people were content with how the government interpreted Swiss neutrality. “The people have spoken: they accept that neutrality is an instrument that can evolve, leaving the government with room for manoeuvre to adapt its application faced with geopolitical upheavals,” wrote Katy Romy, a correspondent for SwissInfo, the online service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. She also wrote that the yes campaign was unable to shed perceptions it was acting in Russian interests. Russia’s foreign ministry had praised the initiative, while criticising Switzerland’s adoption of EU sanctions and claiming the country was abandoning neutrality. The SVP accepted the defeat and said it had no current plans for further action.

Lime bike profits double as rider numbers surge in England

Love them or hate them, Lime ebikes are an increasingly common sight on England’s roads with new figures showing annual profits more than doubling thanks to a surge in riders. Lime’s average number of monthly users jumped 31% to approaching 700,000 as it added more than 4,500 ebikes and scooters to its fleet, taking the total to almost 38,000, the company’s UK arm, Lime Technologies, said in accounts filed at Companies House. Sales rose by a third to £148m in 2025 and profits more than doubled to £4.7m from £1.7m, as first reported by the Sunday Times. The progress followed expansion into new cities, including Oxford in 2024 and Nottingham in 2023, adding to its presence in London, Milton Keynes and Salford. Despite the surge in trade, Lime’s UK accounts show it employed just 54 people in 2025, up from 39 a year before, largely because it relies on self-employed contractors to shift and service its ebikes and scooters. The company, whose parent, Neutron Holdings, listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange last year valued at $1.7bn (£1.3bn), is part-owned by US ride-hailing app Uber. Lime was founded in 2017 in San Francisco, California, and now operates in about 230 cities across 29 countries, mostly in Europe. At the time of the listing, Wayne Ting, the chief executive of Lime, said the company was having “conversations with lots of other [UK] municipalities”. The English devolution bill, passed in April, gives local authorities in England fresh powers to license rental ebike operators and set requirements around parking, safety and accessibility standards. London’s transport body estimated in 2024 that one in 10 of the 1.5m daily cycle journeys in the capital are made on dockless ebikes such as Lime, Forest and Voi. The schemes have fuelled a surge in cycling in London, helped by the patronage of celebrities such as Timothée Chalamet and most recently Kim Kardashian. However, there have been mounting concerns about safety for riders and pedestrians. Rented ebikes were reportedly responsible for almost a third of cyclist collisions with pedestrians that required police intervention. Meanwhile, riders have been injured by defective ebikes while cycling or suffered fractures caused by the weight of the bicycle falling on them, a phenomenon known as “Lime bike leg”. Lime recently began introducing on the UK a new, smaller version of its ebikes, with batteries repositioned towards the back wheel, after safety criticism. More than 1,500 of the new models are now in operation in England. The company has said that more than 99.99% of Lime trips in London last year ended without a reported incident. Charities representing blind residents and people with limited mobility have also raised concerns about the difficulty in navigating parts of London amid chaotic parking of rental ebikes on pavements. London boroughs have seized at least 3,000 ebikes this year, 2,000 of which were Lime ebikes, a Guardian investigation found, as hire companies face growing calls to stop bicycles littering streets and blocking pavements.

Britain knew about the Holocaust as it happened. A new exhibition reckons with that truth

The “complex and unsettling” story of what Britain knew during the Holocaust is being explored amid plans to create a new permanent national memorial. An exhibition highlighting how news of the atrocity reached Britain much earlier than is commonly understood will tour the country after being viewed privately by MPs at Portcullis House on the parliamentary estate at Westminster in September. The research draws upon newspaper reporting, broadcasts, academic scholarship, witness testimony and government archives. The exhibition is a sample of a more extensive, permanent exhibition for the national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, which is planned for a site in London. Martin Winstone, the senior historical adviser to the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “There’s a feeling today that Britain really only found out about the Holocaust at the end of the war. But in 1942, the year in which most victims of the Holocaust were murdered, you couldn’t really escape this information in Britain. It was in every newspaper. It was on the BBC. “The Manchester Guardian was the newspaper that reported most extensively on the Holocaust, taking a crusading position that there was more the British government and allied governments could be doing.” For years, the Manchester Guardian, which was banned from Germany in 1933 for highlighting Adolf Hitler’s antisemitism, called for immigration restrictions to be lifted for Jews, lobbied for pressure to be applied to neutral nations to open their borders to refugees and for special rescue measures, realising that “the Nazis were aiming at the complete elimination of an entire group of people”. Much of the information about the Holocaust, including the locations of death camps, was smuggled out of Poland – where the murders were “happening in plain sight” – by couriers to the London-based Polish government-in-exile. Winstone said: “It was a challenging situation. There were lots of things the government had to deal with. And for much of that war, Britain was on the defensive. “On one level, the government’s response was always, ‘we’ll win the war, that’s how we stop this’; while critics said, ‘there’ll be nobody left to save, if that’s what you’re waiting for’.” During the second world war, the government commissioned reports on antisemitism in Britain, with agents opening people’s mail and recording conversations overheard in air raid shelters to gauge public opinion. In what Winstone described as a “complex and unsettling story”, Ministry of Information bulletins revealed that while there was mass public sympathy for Jews in occupied Europe, it contended with anti-migration and antisemitic sentiment. Winstone added: “Nearly everybody in Britain was disgusted about these mass murders, but at the same time you start getting more antisemitic discourse about Jews in Britain – that Jews were running the black market, avoiding military service and spreading panic. “Even before the mass murder began, during the 1930s, there was a significant body of opinion which felt Britain should not be admitting refugees.” Winstone said UK immigration laws in the 1930s were highly restrictive, in part because of antisemitism earlier in the 20th century. But after the Kristallnacht pogrom of 1938, Britain relaxed restrictions to some extent, allowing Jewish children to come from Europe without visas. The Manchester Guardian reported how Jewish communities and Quakers in the city set up organisations to support refugees. British women – from MP Eleanor Rathbone, to grassroots fundraisers and those who found themselves interned alongside Jews in France – were at the forefront of humanitarian efforts, Winstone said. A 2021 survey by Claims Conference found 21% of the British public knew the UK government was aware of the mass murder of Jews as early as 1941. UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation is co-chaired by the broadcaster and former Labour politician Ed Balls and the Tory peer Eric Pickles, who said the exhibition would give an early insight into the work being developed for the forthcoming memorial. The exhibition will be at the Northern Ireland assembly from 30 October until 13 November; the Scottish parliament from 7 to 10 December; before travelling to Cardiff from 16 January to 4 February 2027, coinciding with Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January. It is also expected to visit Manchester, with a date and venue yet to be confirmed. The UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, which would be at Victoria Tower Gardens, Westminster, does not have a confirmed opening date yet, as a planning application is being redetermined by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Holocaust Memorial Act 2026 received royal assent this year, granting legal clearance and government funding for the project.