Ukraine-Russia, latest news today 28 September on the war

Russia is “ready to negotiate” to reach a solution to the crisis in Ukraine, but “taking into account the reality on the ground” and “Russian security interests”, declared Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov interviewed by the Tass news agency.

”Our position remains valid: we are ready to negotiate, but taking into account the realities that have developed in the earthquake and taking into account our position, which is well known to everyone,” Lavrov said. Because this force, he argued, ”openly declared the goal of exterminating everything Russian on those lands, both in Crimea and in Novorossiya”.

Kiev’s counteroffensive: the point

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured yesterday that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is making progress on the ground and has overcome some Russian defenses. “The Ukrainian counteroffensive continues to advance. In some areas, Ukrainian forces have overcome Russian defenses,” Stoltenberg said, after meeting the new Latvian Prime Minister, Evika Silina, on her first visit to the allied headquarters. However, he added, there are no signs that Putin’s goals have changed. “The best way to achieve lasting peace remains to increase support for Ukraine.”

The Ukrainian army “is advancing in the direction of Donetsk”, wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram, referring to “intelligence reports on the situation at the front, on the supply of equipment and ammunition. There is our advance in the direction of Donetsk. There are other ideas that are being implemented.”

Zelensky also received a report on the situation in the Kherson region. “The Russians continue to terrorize the territories they can reach”, added the Ukrainian president, according to whom “yesterday the Russian army dropped 26 bombs on the territory of the region”.

War Ukraine Russia, today’s news September 28th

On the war front, the Ukrainian armed forces shot down around thirty drones launched by Russia, which launched a ”massive” attack during the night whose ”consequences are now being verified”. This was reported by Nataliya Gumenyuk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Southern Military Command, explaining that the drones were intercepted over the coastal regions of the Black Sea and further inland. On Telegram, Gumenyuk said that Russia ”does not stop the pressure and the search for new tactics”.

But ”air defense functioned along almost the entire southern direction, in Odessa and in the Mykolaiv region,” explains Gumenyuk, adding that ”further north, the enemy turned its attacks on central Ukraine”.

Today French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu went to Kiev to discuss military aid provided by Paris, Le Figaro reports. During his visit, the French minister will meet his counterpart Rustem Oumerov and the Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin.

Accompanied by defense industrialists and representatives of around 20 companies, Lecornu will talk to local officials about how to advance the provision of French aid to Ukraine and industrial partnerships in a conflict that is set to last.