09/17/2025September 17, 2025Russian drone attacks target more Ukrainian rail facilities
Russia continued attacks on Ukraine’s railway facilities, hitting installations overnight into Wednesday. The attacks resulted in disruptions to the network, according to officials.
“Because of a large-scale enemy attack on electrical substations, we are experiencing delays on trains heading toward Odessa and Dnipro,” Ukrainian Railways said on Telegram.
Railway chief Oleksandr Pertsovskyi described it as “another night with yet another complex attack on the railway.”
https://p.dw.com/p/50ail
09/17/2025September 17, 2025Europe to speed up stopping oil, gas imports from Russia, von der Leyen says after speaking to Trump
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced a series of moves to quicken the stop of all oil and gas imports from Russia.
“Russia’s war economy, sustained by revenues from fossil fuels, is financing the bloodshed in Ukraine,” von der Leyen posted on X, adding the Commission will “propose speeding up” the phase-out of Russian fossil imports.
While not giving further details, the EU’s current plan says it will fully stop Russian gas imports by 2028, with oil imports to be phased out by 2027.
The Commission head said she had a “good call” with US President Donald Trump, who recently tied further US sanctions on Russia to Europe imposing high tariffs on Chinese imports and stopping the purchase of Russian oil.
“The Commission will soon present its 19th package of sanctions, targeting crypto, banks, and energy,” von der Leyen said on social media.
https://p.dw.com/p/50aMK
09/17/2025September 17, 2025UN head Guterres ‘not optimistc’ on peace prospect in Ukraine
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says he is “not optimistic” about quickly achieving peace between Russia and Ukraine.
“I am not optimistic about the short-term progress in the peace process in Ukraine,” he told reporters in New York, adding he believes the war between the two countries will go on “at least for some time.”
Hopes for progress in the negotiations were bolstered by the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in August, but so far, any such peace arrangement has failed to materialize.
https://p.dw.com/p/50aMT
09/17/2025September 17, 2025Protests erupt in Slovakia over government’s pro-Russian stance
Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Slovakia to protest against the economic and pro-Russian policies of Prime Minister Robert Fico.
This comes as Fico traveled to China to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, the third meeting between the two since Moscow’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.
Fico has become known for being a divisive figure, with his critics saying he is following Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s example, who is also someone who has shown Russian sympathies and complicated European Union efforts to sanction Moscow for starting the war in Ukraine.
https://p.dw.com/p/50aMW
09/17/2025September 17, 2025Welcome to our coverage
We will be looking at the talks between European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump regarding European countries’ consumption of energy from Russia.
Elsewhere, protesters took to the streets in Slovakia against the government’s pro-Russian stance.
Follow all of today’s developments in the war between Russia and Ukraine here.
https://p.dw.com/p/50aMD