Ukraine updates: Sumy hospital hit by deadly double attack

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the US network Fox News that he had received "very direct information" from Donald Trump that the former US president would support Ukraine in the war against Russia if he is re-elected in the presidential elections in November.

In a closed-door meeting on Friday, Zelenskyy, who was in the United States for the UN General Assembly, presented Trump with his war "victory plan."

In an interview with Fox News after the meeting, Zelenskyy said:  "I don't know what will be after elections and who will be the president ... But I've got from Donald Trump very direct information that he will be on our side, that he will support Ukraine."

Zelenskyy, who also met with US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, said he was seeking unified US support in its ongoing war with Russia and would not support either side in the US election.

"I don't want to be involved in the election period ... I don't want to lose one or another part of Americans," Zelenskyy said.

Trump and Harris's differences on Ukraine reflect divisions in their respective Democratic and Republican parties, as well as their views of the US role in the world.

It was not immediately clear exactly what Trump told Zelenskyy in the meeting.

Russia is ready to take the case of the Nord Stream pipelines explosions to court if the West fails to investigate the matter, the Foreign Ministry said in Moscow.

Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Russia had filed what she called "pre-trial claims" against Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland based on the 1997 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.

"The pre-trial stage of dispute settlement, a mandatory stage provided for by the conventions, is now underway," she said, adding that if the issue is not resolved at this stage, Russia intends to take the matter to court and appeal to the International Court of Justice.

The multibillion-dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which carry gas under the Baltic Sea, were ruptured by a series of explosions in September 2022, seven months after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.

No one has claimed responsibility for the explosions. Moscow has repeatedly said, without providing evidence, that the attack was carried out by the United States and Britain, both of which have denied the accusations.

German prosecutors said last month they had issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diving instructor in Poland in connection with the attacks.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned against "the expansion of the battlefield" in Ukraine. 

"The top priority is to commit to no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting, and no provocation by any party, and push for de-escalation of the situation as soon as possible," he told the UN General Assembly.

Wang said the Beijing government remains committed to shuttle diplomacy and efforts to bring the conflict to an end. 

On Friday, China and Brazil sought to drum up enthusiasm for their Ukraine peace plan on the sidelines of the assembly. They said about a dozen countries had signed a communique saying they "take note" of the six-point plan. 

Among other things, the plan calls for a peace conference with both Ukraine and Russia and no expansion of the battlefield. Ukrainian officials have given the proposal the cold shoulder.

A Ukrainian Supreme Court judge has been killed in a Russian drone strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region. 

Leonid Loboiko, who was delivering aid to local residents in a civilian car, was killed when a drone hit his vehicle, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov reported. 

He said Loboiko was killed instantly. Three women in the car were seriously injured, he added.

The Supreme Court confirmed the death of its member on Facebook and offered condolences to the family. 

Syniehubov also said three people were killed and at least three others injured in another airstrike in the village of Slatyne, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv. 

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of trying to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia in Ukraine.

"The current Anglo-Saxon strategists are not hiding their ideas. For now they do, it's true, hope to defeat Russia using the illegitimate neo-Nazi Kyiv regime, but they're already preparing Europe for it to also throw itself into this suicidal escapade," Lavrov said.

He warned the West of the danger of trying to "fight to victory with a nuclear power." 

"I'm not going to talk here about the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power, which is what Russia is," Lavrov said. 

The minister also said that it was senseless to ignore alternatives to Ukraine's peace proposals: "Equally senseless, the Western backers of Kyiv swearing that there is no alternative to negotiations based on the infamous peace formula."

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Nine months later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a 10-point peace plan to bring a just end to the war on the basis of the founding UN Charter and international law. Moscow rejected the plan.

The Ukrainian government said nine children and a 20-year-old man were returned to Ukraine from Russia. 

Ukrainian human rights ombdudsman Dmytro Lubinets said Qatar facilitated the return of the children. 

"Ukraine is ready for everyone to return and will provide basic humanitarian, medical, psychological and social assistance," Lubinets said. 

Ukraine and the UN have accused Russia of forcibly transferring thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied Ukrainian territory. Russia has claimed that the children were being evacuated with their consent.    

The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of implementing new citizenship rules that would force the Russian nationality on the transferred children, stealing their Ukrainian identity. 

A hospital in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, not far from the Russian border, was targeted by two consecutive Russian attacks early on Saturday, according to Ukrainian authorities. 

Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the first attack left one person dead. Then, while evacuations of patients and employees were ongoing, Russia launched another strike.    

"As of now, we know that eight people have been killed," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said later after the attack. "Eleven others have been wounded, and 113 patients have been evacuated from the hospital."   

Zelenskyy said the Russian attack on the hospital utilized "Shahed" drones, which are designed by Iran.   

The method of striking a target once and then hitting it again shortly thereafter as responders arrive is known as a "double tap."

Russia has been accused of carrying out "double tap" strikes not only during its invasion of Ukraine but also earlier during its intervention in the Syrian civil war. The method has been criticized as a war crime as it is aimed at civilians rushing to help the wounded. 

The city of Sumy is close to Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have been carrying out an incursion to distract the Russian military.

wd/lo (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)