UNITED NATIONS: Russia gets the microphone at the UN world leaders&#39; meeting on Saturday, three years into an invasion of Ukraine that the international community has broadly deplored, and a that powerful member newly says Ukraine can repel.&nbsp;Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due to give his country&#39;s address at the General Assembly, four days after US President Donald Trump said he believed Ukraine can win back all the territory it has lost to Russia.&nbsp;It was a notable tone shift from a US leader who had previously suggested Ukraine would need to make some concessions and could never reclaim all the areas Russia has occupied since seizing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and launching a full-scale invasion in 2022.&nbsp;Just three weeks earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country and the US had a &ldquo;mutual understanding&rdquo; and that Trump&#39;s administration &quot;is listening to us.&rdquo;&nbsp;Trump&#39;s new view came after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of General Assembly Tuesday, seven months after a televised blow-up between the two in the Oval Office. This time, the doors were closed, and the tenor was evidently different &quot;a good meeting,&rdquo; as Zelenskyy described it in his assembly speech the next day.&nbsp;For the fourth year in a row, Zelenskyy appealed to the gathering of presidents, prime ministers and other top officials to get Russia out of his country and warned that inaction would put other countries at risk.&nbsp;&ldquo;Ukraine is only the first,&quot; he said.&nbsp;Unauthorized flights into NATO&rsquo;s airspace intrusions blamed on Russia, have raised alarm around Europe in recent weeks, particularly after NATO jets downed drones over Poland and Estonia said Russian fighter jets flew into its territory and lingered for 12 minutes. Russia denied that its planes entered Estonian airspace and said the drones didn&#39;t target Poland, with Moscow&#39;s ally Belarus maintaining that Ukrainian signal-jamming sent the devices off-course.&nbsp;But European leaders see the incidents as intentional, provocative moves meant to rattle NATO and to suss how the alliance will respond.&nbsp;Russia has offered various explanations for the Ukraine war, among them assuring its own security after NATO expanded eastward over the years.&nbsp;Lavrov&#39;s address to the General Assembly last year was a bitter swipe at the West, whetted with a reference to &ldquo;the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power, which is what Russia is.&rdquo;

Europe

At the UN, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov speaks amid war tensions. Trump shifted tone, saying Ukraine can reclaim lost land, after meeting Zelenskyy. NATO accused Russia of provocative airspace violations, while Zelenskyy urged global action against Moscow.

Russia addresses world leaders at UN three years into Ukraine invasion

VIENNA: Diplomats from Germany, United Kingdom (UK) and France held talks with Iran&rsquo;s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to explore final options before sanctions are reinstated on Iran&rsquo;s nuclear program, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said.&nbsp;A statement issued on behalf of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged the meeting, which also involves Kaja Kallas, the foreign policy chief for the European Union.&nbsp;Wadephul said the three European countries known as the &lsquo;E3&rsquo; will continue to negotiate with Iran.&nbsp;Amid a flurry of diplomatic engagements, Araghchi on Monday also met with Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in New York.&nbsp;Earlier this month, the UN nuclear watchdog and Iran signed an agreement mediated by Egypt to pave the way for resuming cooperation, including on ways of relaunching inspections of Iran&rsquo;s nuclear facilities. Iran&rsquo;s President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a law adopted by his country&rsquo;s parliament suspending all cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, which followed Israel&rsquo;s 12-day war with Iran in June, during which Israel and the US struck Iranian nuclear sites. Iran has long insisted its program is peaceful, though Western nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assess that Tehran had an active nuclear weapons program until 2003.&nbsp;The process, termed a &ldquo;snapback&rdquo; by the diplomats who negotiated it into Iran&rsquo;s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers was designed to be veto-proof at the UN and could take effect in a month.&nbsp;The move set a 30-day clock for resumption unless a diplomatic agreement is reached.&nbsp;European nations have said they would be willing to extend the deadline if Iran resumes direct negotiations with the US over its nuclear program and allows UN nuclear inspectors access to its nuclear sites, and accounts for the more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium the UN watchdog says it has.&nbsp;If no diplomatic deal is found, the sanctions will automatically &quot;snapback&quot; on September 28.

Middle East

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi engaged European leaders to prevent sanctions “snapback,” stressing Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. Tehran seeks fair negotiations and insists cooperation depends on respecting its sovereignty.

Articles tagged with "UN General Assembly"

Russia addresses world leaders at UN three years into Ukraine invasion

Iran's foreign minister meets European nations ahead of deadline