26/09/2025

FRIDAY | SEPT 26, 2025

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Stop war or face dangerous arms race, says Zelensky

UKRAINE RESTORES TIES WITH SYRIA NEW YORK: Ukraine and Syria formally restored diplomatic relations on Wednesday as their leaders met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine has worked to engage with Syrian authorities since the December 2024 toppling of Bashar al-Assad, who was for years a staunch Russian ally and allowed Moscow to build up a military foothold on its territory. “We are pleased with this important step and are ready to support the Syrian people on their path to stability,“ said Zelensky. He sent his foreign minister to Damascus last December to hold talks with the new Syrian leadership, urging them to cut Russia’s presence from its territory and promising food aid shipments. The Syrian leadership said it was hoping for close relations with Kyiv. – Reuters IRAN, RUSSIA SIGN M.O.U. ON NUCLEAR PLANTS TEHRAN: Iran and Russia on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the construction of small modular reactors (SMR) in Iran, reported Xinhua. The statement said the MoU aims to expand cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy to promote sustainable development, strengthen energy security and advance technology, in compliance with the countries’ national regulations and international obligations. It added that the two sides would prepare and sign contracts for designing and constructing nuclear power plants based on SMR in the future. – Bernama-Xinhua Palestinian leader to address UN NEW YORK: leader Mahmud Abbas addressed the United Nations (UN) virtually yesterday as the United States, despite its opposition to him, weighed whether to try to stop the Israeli annexation of the West Bank. The veteran 89-year-old Palestinian Authority president addressed the UN General Assembly three days after France led a special summit in which a slew of Western nations recognised a state of Palestine. US President Donald Trump’s administration adamantly rejected statehood and barred Abbas and his senior aides from traveling to New York for the annual gathering. The General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to let Abbas address the world body with a video message. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow a Palestinian state, and far-right members of his Cabinet have threatened to annex the West Bank. French President Emmanuel Macron, despite his disagreements with Trump on statehood, said on Wednesday the US leader joined him in opposing annexation. He said a newly pitched 21-point US proposal aimed at ending the war incorporates core elements of a French plan, including the disarmament of Hamas and the dispatch of an international stabilisation force. France and other European powers, while not joining Israeli and US efforts to delegitimise the Palestinian Authority, have said it needs major reforms. – AFP Palestinian

BR I E F S

Trump has talked up the need for Europe to take on more of the burden of supporting Kyiv and despite his sudden shift in language this week, there is no sign that he has stepped up actual support. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York on Wednesday for talks. US Vice-President J.D. Vance told reporters that Trump is growing “incredibly impatient” with Russia because they are not “putting enough on the table to end the war”. “If the Russians refuse to negotiate in good faith, I think it is going to be very bad for their country. It is not a shift in position. It is an acknowledgement of the reality on the ground.” In a sign of how Kyiv is pitching its technology and experience from the war to shore up fragile relations with its foreign partners, Zelensky said Ukraine has decided to begin exporting its weapons to allies. He said the modern era means

that having powerful friends is essential, but “if a nation wants peace, it has to work on weapons. It is sick but that is the reality”. Ukraine has had tough restrictions on the export of its military products to prevent technology falling into the hands of its enemies, but it is moving to relax them in cases in which its own stocks are covered. “We are ready to make our modern weapons become your modern security. We have decided to open up arms export. And these are powerful systems tested in a real war when every international institution failed.” He pointed to alleged airspace violations by Russia in Nato members Poland and Estonia as evidence that Putin is testing new boundaries in the war. “Russian drones are flying across Europe and Russian operations are spreading across countries. Putin wants to continue this war by expanding it and no one can feel safe right now.” – Reuters

o Kyiv accuses Moscow of seeking to expand war beyond Ukraine

NEW YORK: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged world powers to help stop Russia’s war in his country in a speech to the United Nations (UN) on Wednesday, warning of a dangerous arms race that he said the fighting was unleashing. He called for global rules to curb the use of AI in weapons while describing breakneck innovation in drones used in Ukraine. He also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of seeking to expand his war beyond Ukraine. “Stopping Russia now is cheaper than wondering who would be the first to create a simple drone carrying a nuclear warhead,” he told the 193-member UN General Assembly. His comments came a day after he met US President Donald

Trump at the UN, during which Trump appeared to take a tougher stance towards the Kremlin. Trump said on Tuesday Kyiv could retake all its occupied land from Russia in what would be an extraordinary battlefield reversal. He also endorsed the idea of shooting down Russian fighter jets that violate Nato airspace. Zelensky said the advent of AI means that the arms race underway is the “most destructive” in human history, voicing disappointment in what he said was the weakness of international law and cooperation. Western support has been vital for Kyiv but the future of that assistance has been uncertain as Trump has declined to impose powerful sanctions on Russia or provide fresh military assistance beyond selling arms.

Displaced Palestinians moving

southwards in the Nuseirat refugee camp area in Gaza on Wednesday as Israel presses on in its air and ground offensive. – AFPPIC

Trump presents new 21-point Gaza peace plan

GAZA: US President Donald Trump has presented a plan to end the Gaza war in a meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders this week, his envoy said on Wednesday. US envoy Steve Witkoff said Trump detailed a “21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza” in Tuesday’s meeting with a group of leaders from Arab and Muslim nations. “We are hopeful, and I might say even confident, that in the coming days we would be able to announce some sort of breakthrough,“ he told a summit on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.

The plan “addresses Israeli concerns and the concerns of all the neighbours in the region”, he said without elaborating on the points. A joint statement from the governments represented in the meeting said the leaders have “reiterated their commitment to cooperate with Trump and stressed the importance of his leadership to end the war”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu said Israel is not bound by a wave of recogitions of the State of Palestine, including by Britain, Canada and France. “The shameful capitulation of some leaders to Palestinian terror

does not obligate Israel in any way. There will be no Palestinian state.“ On the ground, Israel pressed its assault on Gaza. Israel says the air and ground offensive aims to root out Hamas. Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli attacks on Wednesday killed at least 40 people across Gaza, including 22 in a warehouse sheltering displaced people. The Israeli military said it struck “two Hamas terrorists” in the north, where Gaza is located, without offering more details. Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean that AFP is unable to

independently verify the details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military. Another eight people were killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution centre close to Khan Younis in the south, according to the agency. Israel’s army told AFP that it was unaware of the incident. In launching its US-backed ground offensive in Gaza, the Israeli military told Palestinians to go to a designated “humanitarian area” in the south. Israel has carried out repeated strikes on that area, Al-Mawasi, since declaring it a safe zone early in the war. – AFP