Ukraine war latest: Trump says NATO should down Russian aircraft violating allied airspace
Key developments on Sept. 23:
- Trump says NATO should down Russian aircraft violating allied airspace
- Zelensky, Trump meet in New York amid surging Russia-NATO tensions
- Ukraine hits Russian oil facilities in Bryansk, Samara oblasts, military claims
- Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow throughout the night, mayor says
- Russia not close to encirclement of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast despite claims, expert says
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sept. 23 that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft that violate their airspace.
When asked whether NATO allies should fire on Russian planes entering their territory, Trump replied: "Yes, I do."
He was speaking at a joint briefing with President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly.
Russia has violated the airspace of several NATO member states in recent weeks, including Poland, Romania, and Estonia. On Sept. 19, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace before being intercepted by NATO aircraft.
Asked further by a reporter on whether the U.S. would back NATO allies if they shot down a Russian aircraft, Trump said: "That depends on the circumstances. We are very strong toward NATO."
Earlier on Sept. 23, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a CBS interview that NATO had not discussed shooting down Russian jets unless they were attacking. He said NATO's response to such intrusions has been to intercept the aircraft, and that this practice would continue.
Zelensky, Trump meet in New York amid surging Russia-NATO tensions
President Volodymyr Zelensky met his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 23.
The meeting, their fourth since Trump returned to office in January, comes amid rising tensions between NATO and Moscow over Russian aerial incursions into allied countries, while the U.S. push to broker peace in Ukraine has stalled.
"We have great respect for the fight Ukraine is putting up. It is pretty amazing," Trump told journalists. "We have a lot of meetings scheduled today going pretty late into the night, but this is an important one."
Asked about progress since his last meeting with Zelensky, Trump pointed to the state of Russia's economy and Ukraine's resilience. "Well, the biggest progress is that the Russian economy is terrible right now. It's crashing. And frankly, Ukraine is doing a very good job of stopping this very large army. It's pretty amazing," Trump said.
"This was supposed to be quick, three or four days, but it's been three and a half years of very hard fighting. Russia doesn't look very distinguished," American president added, saying the war looks like "it's not going to end for a long time."
The Ukrainian president spoke about developments on the battlefield, saying Ukrainian troops had advanced some 360 kilometers (223 miles) in recent weeks and inflicted losses on Russian forces.
"Thanks to our soldiers, we have this possibility, this opportunity, and we will continue until Russia stops this war," Zelensky said.
Ukraine hits Russian oil facilities in Bryansk, Samara oblasts, military claims
Ukrainian forces struck the 8-N linear production dispatching station near the village of Naitopovichi in Russia's Bryansk Oblast overnight on Sept. 23, Ukraine's General Staff reported.
The news comes as Ukraine escalates attacks against Russian oil infrastructure, a key source of revenue helping Moscow fund its all-out invasion.
The Bryansk Oblast facility is part of the main oil pipeline system 8-N — Stalnoy Kon (Steel Horse) linear production dispatching station and is considered strategically important for supplying fuel to the Russian military.
Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted Russian energy infrastructure in the area of Naitopovichi, a village some 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the Russia-Ukraine border.
In a separate attack, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces again targeted the Samara dispatching station in Russia's Samara Oblast.
The facility blends high- and low-sulfur crude oil from various fields to produce the Urals export-grade oil. Samara Oblast lies some 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the front line in Ukraine.
Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow throughout the night, mayor says
Ukraine carried out drone strikes on Moscow throughout the night of Sept. 23, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported, adding that dozens of unmanned aircraft were downed.
Sobyanin began reporting on the drone attacks on the evening of Sept. 22 and continued to update throughout the night. Thirty-four Ukrainian drones flying toward Moscow were shot down as of around 9 a.m. local time, he said.
According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, a total of 69 Ukrainian drones were shot down over nine Russian regions, including Moscow Oblast, as well as over occupied Crimea overnight on Sept. 23.
Airspace over the Russian capital was closed due to the drone attack, prompting a temporary suspension of operations at Moscow’s airports.
Emergency services were dispatched to the sites where drone debris had fallen, the mayor said. No casualties or damage were reported.
Russia not close to encirclement of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast despite claims, expert says
Russian troops have not yet come close to encircling the town of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, Federico Borsari, a security expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), told the Kyiv Independent on Sept. 23.
His comment follows Russian claims that Kupiansk, a strategically important town in northeastern Ukraine, had been encircled.
Victor Tregubov, spokesperson for Ukraine's Dnipro group of forces, also denied these claims, saying that Russia is trying to advance toward Kupiansk from the north.
"Russian forces are currently not close to fully encircling Kupiansk, although they have made incremental gains and are intensifying their efforts on multiple axes," Borsari said.
According to the expert, Russia’s renewed push to capture the town is primarily driven by a combination of "strategic logistical imperatives," the objective of creating a more favorable operational environment for future offensives, and the desire to regain lost territory to show some progress "domestically."
Russia occupied the town after the outbreak of the full-scale invasion in 2022, but was pushed out during a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the fall of that year.
Note from the author:
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