Russia and Ukraine continue strikes on energy targets

Charlotte Gallagher (0:00)

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and at 1400 Hours GMT on Tuesday, the 15th of September, these are our main stories. As Ukraine and Russia continue fighting, Kiev says it's ready to observe a temporary pause in attacks on energy infrastructure. In Lithuania, a NATO fighter jet shoots down a drone that entered the country's airspace.

Also in this podcast, Kenya will host the World Athletics Championships, a first for an African nation.

Sebastian Koh (0:35)

Nairobi has demonstrated emphatically that this is their moment to supercharge the development of our sport in Kenya and across Africa.

Charlotte Gallagher (0:44)

And the number of people in Japan who are aged 100 or older has surpassed 100,000 for the first time.

There's been no pause in fighting between Russia and Ukraine, despite President Trump's claim that both sides would temporarily stop targeting critical infrastructure. Russia says a gas pipeline was hit in the south of the country in an attack overnight, while officials in the Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine said Russian attacks had disrupted power supplies to some areas and a petrol station in Kiev was hit. Ukraine says it supports de-escalation, but only if Russia shows it's ready to end the war. The Foreign Minister Andrei Sibyia said Ukraine was primed for a ceasefire.

James Landale (1:34)

Ukraine is ready for such a ceasefire. Our partners know our position.

And by the way, there are several other proposals from our closest partners, our international partners, to work on this track so that through joint efforts, we can achieve this energy ceasefire.

Charlotte Gallagher (1:49)

The Kremlin has said it welcomed the US proposal while adding that what it called illegal sanctions on Russian energy supplies should be lifted. Our correspondent, James Landale, is in the Ukrainian capital and told me more about the overnight attacks.

James Landale (2:04)

Here in Kiev, yet again, more air raids, more Russian drones in the skies overnight. And this morning, the understanding is that the main targets of those drones were petrol stations.

Two were hit. We know a number of people have been injured. There is a report that one of them has now died of their wounds in hospital. This is part of a continuing pattern now of Russia choosing more and more petrol stations to target here as part of a wider escalation of its attacks against Ukraine. In turn, we also know that there was a Ukrainian missile attack on a town in the southern part of Russia, on the Sea of Azov, where the local regional governor has reported Ukrainian strikes on a warehouse and a gas pipeline. So the fighting continues.

Charlotte Gallagher (2:51)

And have Ukraine and Russia said anything about this temporary pause that Donald Trump announced on them targeting critical infrastructure?

James Landale (3:00)

Well Donald Trump said there was an agreement. That's not true. What there is is some kind of proposal doing the rounds. President Zelensky said in his overnight address that he welcomed what he called a strong proposal from the United States for some kind of pause on attacks on critical infrastructure. And he said that Ukraine was in principle willing to de-escalate. But he said they would only do that if there was a very genuine and clear sign that Russia was ready to end the war. And he said at the moment there isn't such readiness.

Here not many people are holding their breath for some kind of pause in the fighting. The general expectation here is that Russia will seek to use this coming winter to put as much pressure as it can on Ukraine.

Charlotte Gallagher (3:42)

That was James Landale in Kiev.

On Monday, NATO and EU leaders condemned what they described as Russian attempts to frighten the West away from its support for Ukraine after a drone struck a train near the Ukraine-Poland border. Less than 24 hours later, NATO said one of its fighter jets has shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace. David Asmatoulonis is the National Security Advisor for the Lithuanian president.

David Asmatoulonis (4:09)

This is really a significant violation of our airspace, and this is not the first time we are encountering such a threat. And where it comes from, difficult to say, but originally the route of the flight was from Belarus.

And what type of drone we cannot say, is it intentional or just diverted from the initial route. Now, investigation is going on.

Charlotte Gallagher (4:34)

Our correspondent Sarah Rainsford was in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius when the drone incursion happened.

Sarah Rainsford (4:40)

It was just after midnight this morning here in Vilnius that my phone screeched with an alert. And when I checked the message, it said there was a suspected drone. Keep safe, it said, and wait for the all clear. Now, that all clear came about 20 minutes later, and we now know that there was a drone confirmed, that it was in Lithuanian airspace for around about half an hour before it was intercepted and shot down by NATO fighter jets. We still don't know who that drone belonged to. We don't know whether it was launched deliberately or it might have strayed into Lithuanian airspace. We know that it entered from neighboring Belarus and that after it was shot down, the debris was scattered over a wide area, so it's being collected up and examined to see who it was launched by and whether or not it was armed, in fact, whether or not there was any explosives. But this has happened at a nervous time here in this region because Russia is escalating its full-scale war on Ukraine and it is also escalating its hybrid attacks on Ukraine's greatest supporters. Vilnius, Lithuania has always been a staunch supporter of Ukraine ever since the full-scale invasion.