Poland threatens Kyiv with more import bans

Poland could slap import bans on more Ukrainian food products, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday, 20 September, as he warned Kyiv against escalating a row over grain imports.

Poland has been one of Ukraine's staunchest allies since Russia invaded the country in 2022, but the countries are now embroiled in a deepening conflict over agricultural imports since Poland, along with Hungary and Slovakia, extended a ban on grain imports from their war-torn neighbor.

"I warn the Ukrainian authorities, because if they escalate this conflict in this way, we will add more products to the ban on import into the territory of the Republic of Poland," Morawiecki told Polsat news.

Ukraine's first lady at UN: seeks help bring abducted children back home

Kyiv's first lady, Olena Zelenska, urged world leaders on Tuesday, 19 September to help bring back Ukrainian children who have been forcibly taken by Russia.

Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, she said that more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia where they are being indoctrinated and deprived of their national identity.

In Russia, "they were told that their parents don't need them, that their country doesn't need them, that nobody is waiting for them," Zelenska said.

Only 386 children have been brought back so far.

At the summit, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia's actions genocidal and asked "We are trying to get children back home but time goes by. What will happen to them?"

Russia denied the allegations and instead claimed to have saved Ukrainian children from the horrors of war.

The International Criminal Court had previously issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.

Russia's presidential commissioner for children's rights Maria Lvova-Belova also faces similar charges.

Ukrainian mayor warns of potential danger at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

There is a growing risk of nuclear accidents at Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, warned the Dmytro Orlov mayor of Enerhodar town in Ukraine.

"The fear is growing with each passing day because there are several dangerous factors at play," said Orlov.

"The power plant now has to be supplied from outside and since last September alone there have been six incidents where the power supply was interrupted. In the prior 40 years there was not one such incident," he warned.

He added that the dam from whose reservoir the cooling water for the nuclear plant was tapped was destroyed during the war causing a dangerous situation and multiple risks.

However, theInternational Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) latest report suggests that Russia has largely restored the supply of cooling water.

Russia announced its capture of Europe's largest nuclear power plant in early March 2022. The reactors in the plant have been shut down since September 2022.

Russia claims to have downed four Ukrainian drones

Russia destroyed four Ukrainian launched drones over the Belgorod and Oryol regions on Wednesday, Moscow's defense ministry.

Governors of both regions said that there were no casualties or destruction.

In recent months air strikes deep into Russia and Russian-controlled territory have increased significantly.

While Moscow holds Kyiv accountable, Ukraine seldom comments on the attacks.