Ukraine-Russia war latest: New drone interceptors unveiled by Zelensky with hundreds in production

Ukraine has said it has received separate proposals for limited ceasefires covering energy infrastructure and shipping in the Black Sea.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv was prepared to consider such an arrangement, proposed by the United States, India, Turkey and Egypt.

The proposed measures would focus on two areas that have become increasingly important during the war: attacks on energy infrastructure and attacks affecting commercial shipping in the Black Sea.

“We voiced our vision, based on our logic and our understanding of how this should all happen. We are ready for an energy and Black Sea ceasefire, but only in such a combination. Energy and ceasefire in the Black Sea,” the minister told Hromadske.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine will be able to produce up to 400 interceptors by the end of the month to repel Russia’s jet-powered attack drones.

Speaking to the Financial Times, the Ukrainian president said Kyiv is testing five types of high-speed interceptor drones to defend against Russian attacks.

Vladimir Putin has increasingly targeted Ukrainian cities using the drones, hitting key infrastructure that is keeping Ukraine’s war-battered economy afloat.

Recent targets have included energy systems, key industries, railways, post offices, shopping centers, telecom networks, gas stations and grain exports.

The drones fly much higher and faster than propeller-driven drones and are much harder to stop.

Zelensky said that manufacturers hope to reach production of around 400 units by the end of October.

Russia said on Friday it would consider a partial lifting of diesel export restrictions in case of overproduction, raising the prospect of a possible reprieve for global fuel markets strained by war and supply shortages.

Speaking in the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, deputy prime minister Alexander Novak also said that the domestic diesel ⁠market is currently balanced.

Russia this week extended its ban on diesel exports for fuel producers until the end of October, adding further strain on the global energy market. Russia was ⁠the world’s second-largest diesel exporter after the United States before it started to ​limit ⁠overseas sales this summer to meet ‌the demand of the domestic market, supplies to which were dented by Ukrainian attacks on refineries.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia will not supply its diesel to global energy markets until sanctions against Moscow are lifted. Novak said that the situation ​with Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure has remained “tense”.

He said Russia thwarted attacks on four refineries overnight, while the authorities were assessing the damage at one of the plants. Novak also said that the damage caused by repeated raids on refineries has been significantly ‌lower thanks to ​protection measures.

“This allows us to restore damaged equipment and bring facilities back into operation more quickly after repairs,” he said.

World food prices rose in September to their highest in nearly four years as logistics disruptions and weather concerns affected crop markets, the ⁠United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation said.

Fears about a severe El Nino weather pattern have pushed international sugar prices to an 18-month high, while a war-related collapse in Black Sea trade pushed wheat futures to a three-year peak early last month.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices for ⁠a basket of food commodities, averaged 136.0 points, up ​from ⁠a revised 134.0 for ‌August and the highest reading since November 2022.

FAO’s benchmarks for cereal, sugar and vegetable oil prices all rose last month, though meat and dairy quotations fell.

“We are seeing a persistent and increasingly broad-based build up in global commodity prices, as disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and ⁠the Black Sea combine with climate shocks, putting pressure on energy, transport and key food commodities,” FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said.

If sustained, these pressures will soon pass through to consumer food prices, especially in food and energy import-dependent countries, he said in a statement. In a separate ‌report, FAO kept its forecast for global cereal production ​in 2026 almost unchanged at 2.979 billion metric ‌tons, 2.1% below the ⁠previous year’s peak but still the second-largest harvest ⁠on record.

FAO cut its forecast for world cereal trade in 2026/27 ‌by 0.7% from September, ​citing lower wheat and ‌maize export expectations due largely to ​constrained Black Sea shipping routes.

Russian aerial attacks forced the partial closure on Friday of three bridges over the Dnipro River in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital’s mayor said, in Moscow’s latest effort to disrupt life in the city.

The Russian strikes forcing the full or partial closure of three of Kyiv’s six road bridges caused traffic logjams and appeared to be a new tactic in its campaign to torment the city’s residents. Previously, Russia has hit apartment blocks, supermarket warehouses, gas stations and data centres, among other targets, in an escalation of attacks.

The aerial war has intensified in recent months as fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometre front line snaking through northern, eastern and southern Ukraine became virtually deadlocked. Russia invaded its neighbour more than 4 ½ years ago, and there are no concrete signs that a peace settlement might be possible.

However, Ukraine has this year made some progress against Russia’s bigger army, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Ukraine struck oil facilities in Russia’s Samara and Volgograd regions over the past 24 hours, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on social media on Friday.

In its own post, Ukraine’s ‌military said ‌the Lukoil refinery in the ⁠city of Volgograd, as well as an oil dispatch station in Samara ‌region, had ​been ‌hit and ⁠that both facilities ⁠were on ‌fire.

Hungary has welcomed Ukraine’s move to submit to parliament draft legislation that strengthens the education rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority.

Hungarian prime minister Peter Magyar said on Friday: “The bill strengthens ⁠the legal guarantees of education in the Hungarian language, and ‌the ​network ‌of ⁠educational institutions.”

Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian president Vladimir Putin has instructed his generals to abandon the rules of war in pursuit of more territory in Ukraine, according to the Financial Times.

The Ukrainian president made the remarks during a visit to a bomb shelter inside a school that had been hit by a Russian drone on Thursday.

Zelensky said Putin gave the order last month, saying: “He said there are no rules now.” Russia has since stepped up its air strikes on civilian targets, particularly in Kyiv, hitting data centres and energy infrastructure as well as schools and hospitals.

Russia still formally denies that it strikes civilian targets, and typically justifies its strikes as hitting military-linked buildings or infrastructure.

Zelensky cited intelligence from intercepted communications from Kremlin officials, the FT reported.

Cho Han-bum, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said any escalation by South Korea in its row with Ukraine would most likely involve support it already provides the war-hit country, including humanitarian, financial and reconstruction assistance.

“Ukraine has more ⁠to lose than South Korea because it is receiving support from Seoul,” ⁠Cho said.

South Korea has provided humanitarian and financial assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion and in July pledged an additional $100 million innon-lethal support on the sidelines of the Nato summit.

“However, neither side benefits from a prolonged confrontation,” ​Cho said, noting that South Korea relies on Ukraine for information related to North Korea’s military activities.

Ukraine is working to heal a spat with South Korea over Kyiv’s publicly announced transfer of two North Korean servicemen taken prisoner in the war against Russia.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky revealed while he was addressing the UN General Assembly last week that the prisoners had been sent to South Korea, angering Seoul which expected the transfer to remain secret.

Ukrainian Foreign minister Andrii Sybiha told journalists late on Thursday: “I would not like to call this an incident. Let’s say, it’s a diplomatic misunderstanding,” according to a report run by the news website nv.ua and other media.

“I really hope that this situation ​will ⁠be resolved in the very ‌near future and we are working on it. For us, South Korea is an important country. And I really ‌hope for momentum, continuation, and concrete results that ‌we are truly achieving with them.”

Ukraine captured the two North Koreans in January 2025, the first to be captured alive since Pyongyang entered the war in 2024 assisting Russia.

North Korea ‌has signed a strategic partnership ⁠agreement with Russia, including a mutual defence pact, and ⁠dispatched an estimated 14,000 troops to help Moscow evict Ukrainian troops from its Kursk ‌region.

Zelensky this week said more than 8,000 North Korean troops remained in Russia and 10,000 were being trained for a future deployment.