LATEST HEADLINES

• Western powers are "de facto" fighting against Moscow through their support for Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists at the UN. "You can call it anything you want, but they are fighting with us," he said. "We call it a hybrid war, but that doesn't change things."

• Russia's top diplomat added that Ukraine's proposed peace plan and the latest UN proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative were both "not realistic," stressing that the U.S. and Europe were "looking down" on the rest of the world amid a battle to win over developing countries.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a slew of American entrepreneurs and financiers that he met during a visit this week to the U.S. – including Mike Bloomberg – told him they were prepared to make major investments in rebuilding Ukraine after the end of the conflict. 

• On his way home, the president presented two Polish volunteers with state awards during a stopover in Poland, but did not meet any officials as relations between the two countries remain strained over Warsaw's decision to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports. READ MORE BELOW

• One of Kyiv's generals said Ukraine had broken through Russian defensive lines in the country's south, the latest Ukrainian claim that its troops are making progress in the Zaporizhzhia area. However, he admitted the counteroffensive to retake Russian-controlled territory had not been as fast as expected.

• Russian defense ministry said it downed almost 260 Ukrainian drones and intercepted nearly 50 HIMARS rockets in the past week.

• A second shipment of Ukrainian wheat reached Türkiye via the Black Sea on Sunday, despite Russian threats to attack boats heading to or from Ukraine. Kyiv is testing a new sea route that avoids using international waters and follows those controlled by NATO members Bulgaria and Romania, following Russia's withdrawal from a UN-backed grain export deal.

IN DETAIL

Zelenskyy fails to meet Polish officials amid grain spat

Despite stopping over in Poland on his return to Europe following a trip to the U.S., Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not meet any officials as relations between the two countries remain strained over grain imports.

Poland decided last week to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports, triggering tensions between Kyiv and one of its staunchest allies in the conflict.

Poland's prime minister told Zelenskyy on Friday not to "insult" Poles, continuing his criticism towards Kyiv ahead of elections on October 15. The ruling Law and Justice Party has been criticized for what it says is the government's subservient attitude to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy angered his neighbors when he told the UN General Assembly in New York that Kyiv was working to preserve land routes for grain exports, but that the "political theater" around imports was only helping Moscow.

Poland went so far as to summon Kyiv's envoy to the foreign ministry earlier in the week, after Zelenskyy's comments. Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski "conveyed the Polish side's strong protest against the statements," Warsaw said.

On Saturday, on Zelenskyy's way back home, he handed awards to Bianka Zalewska, a journalist who helped transport wounded children to Polish hospitals, and Damian Duda, who gathered a medical team to help wounded soldiers near the front line.

Zelenskyy thanked all Poles who "from the first days opened their families, their homes, opened themselves up and helped."

"I believe that any challenges on our common path are nothing compared to the fact that there is such strength between our people," he said.

The head of the Polish president's International Policy Office Marcin Przydacz told the Onet.pl website his office had not received any proposal for a meeting during Zelenskyy's stay in Poland.

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