Trump-Zelenskyy talks at UN: Ukraine seeks de-escalation as winter nears

After the meeting, Zelenskyy wrote on X: "I just had a positive and productive meeting with President Trump @POTUS at UNGA. Both the U.S. and Ukraine want to see this senseless Russian war ended before winter."

"We discussed potential de-escalatory steps that can open up the way to diplomacy. I am grateful that in the meantime our teams keep working on launching Patriot interceptor production in Ukraine," he said.

Zelenskyy said the planned production would help protect lives if Russia rejects negotiations and continues its attacks on Ukraine.

"This is what will help protect lives, should Russia spurn the negotiations and keep betting on ballistic missile terror against our people this winter and beyond," he said.

Zelenskyy added that the two leaders also discussed other bilateral and multilateral issues.

Meanwhile, experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council on Monday painted a grim picture of the human cost of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the plight of civilians facing another wartime winter as well as the intimidation of Russians who have fled the country.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, presenting an update to the council, said repeated Russian strikes on energy infrastructure were leaving Ukrainian civilians increasingly vulnerable as winter approaches.

It said the 2025-2026 winter was particularly harsh, with temperatures falling to as low as 20 degrees Celsius below zero, while millions of people endured prolonged power and heating outages.

No escape abroad

Separately, Mariana Katzarova, the council-appointed Special Rapporteur on human rights in Russia, told delegates in Geneva that Moscow had established a state system to "intimidate and punish critics abroad and coerce their families at home".

Katzarova's report, titled Nowhere is safe, draws on nearly 400 documented cases and says repression by Russia beyond its borders has increased sharply since the 2022 invasion.

According to the report, between 650,000 and 900,000 people have left Russia since the invasion.

Documented incidents of transnational repression increased roughly eight-fold, from 29 in the eight years before 2022 to 89 in the three years since.

Transnational repression

Katzarova pointed to alleged assassinations, poisonings and assaults targeting exiled journalists and activists. She also said Russia files more INTERPOL "red notices" than any other country, with roughly half of those reviewed in 2024 found to have breached INTERPOL's own rules.

She cited the case of a Chechen torture survivor who twice attempted suicide during 18 months in detention in Kazakhstan under a Russian extradition request. The man still faces the risk of torture or death if returned to Russia, she said.

"There is nothing inevitable about transnational repression," Katzarova said, calling for a binding UN convention establishing host states' duties to screen Russian arrest requests and protect people at risk.