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NEW YORK – The U.S., France and other allies jointly called Wednesday for an “immediate” 21-day ceasefire to allow for negotiations in the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon in recent days.

The joint statement, negotiated on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, says the recent fighting is “intolerable and presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation.”

“We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy,” the statement reads. “We call on all parties, including the Governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately.”

There was no immediate reaction from the Israeli or Lebanese governments — or Hezbollah — but senior U.S. officials said all parties were aware of the call for a ceasefire and would be speaking for themselves in the coming hours. The officials said Hezbollah would not be a signatory to the ceasefire, but they believe the government of Lebanon would coordinate its acceptance with the group.

While the ceasefire call applies only to the Israel-Lebanon border, senior U.S. officials said they were looking to use a three-week pause in fighting there to restart stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.

The nations calling for a ceasefire include the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Work on the proposal came together quickly this week with President Joe Biden’s national security team, led by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, working with allies to get the deal together, according to a U.S. official. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations, said the deal crystallized by late Wednesday afternoon during a conversation on the sidelines of the General Assembly between Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the UN Security Council during a meeting that “we are counting on both parties to accept it without delay.”

Barrot said France, a former colonial power to Lebanon, and the U.S. had consulted with the sides on “final parameters for a diplomatic way out of this crisis,” adding that “war is not unavoidable.”

U.S. deputy ambassador to the UN Robert Wood encouraged the council to support the diplomatic efforts but didn’t offer specifics about the plan.

“We are working with other countries on a proposal that we hope will lead to calm and enable discussions to a diplomatic solution,” he said.

Earlier Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. administration was “intensely engaged with a number of partners to deescalate tensions in Lebanon and to work to get a ceasefire agreement that would have so many benefits for all concerned.”

U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 24, 2024, at UN headquarters.

Blinken and other advisers to President Joe Biden have spent the past three days at and on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly meeting of world leaders in New York lobbying other countries to support the plan, according to U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic conversations.

Americans hope such a ceasefire could lead to longer-term stability along the border between Israel and Lebanon. Months of Israeli and Hezbollah exchanges of fire across the border drove tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border, and escalated attacks this week have rekindled fears of a broader war in the Middle East.

Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and senior advisers Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein have been meeting with Middle East allies in New York and have been in touch with Israeli officials about the proposal, one of the U.S. officials said. McGurk and Hochstein have been the White House’s chief interlocutors with Israel and Lebanon since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, another Iranian-backed militant group.

An Israeli official said Netanyahu has given the green light to pursue a possible deal, but only if it includes the return of Israeli civilians to their homes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati threw his support behind the French-U.S. plan that “enjoys international support and which would put an end to this dirty war.”

He called on the Security Council “to guarantee the withdrawal of Israel from all the occupied Lebanese territories and the violations that are repeated on a daily basis.”

Israel’s UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, told journalists at the United Nations that Israel would like to see a ceasefire and the return of people to their homes near the border: “It will happen, either after a war or before a war. We hope it will be before.”

Addressing the Security Council later Wednesday night, he made no mention of negotiations on a temporary ceasefire but said Israel “does not seek a full-scale war.”

Both Danon and Mikati reffirmed their governments’ commitment to a Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war in Lebanon. Never fully implemented, it called for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon to be replaced by Lebanese forces and UN peacekeepers, and the disarmament of all armed groups including Hezbollah.

Danon demanded that the resolution be enforced in full without delay: “I make this declaration here today, to remove any doubt: Never again. Never again will the Jewish people hide from the monsters whose purpose in life is to murder Jews.”

Earlier Wednesday, Biden warned in an appearance on ABC’s “The View” that “an all-out war is possible” but said he thinks the opportunity also exists “to have a settlement that can fundamentally change the whole region.”

Biden suggested that getting Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a ceasefire could help achieve a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. That war is approaching the one-year mark after Hamas raids in southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people. Israel responded with an offensive that has since killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who do not provide a breakdown of civilians and fighters in their count.

“It’s possible and I’m using every bit of energy I have with my team … to get this done,” Biden said. “There’s a desire to see change in the region.”

The U.S. and other international mediators have tried and failed for months to broker a ceasefire in Gaza that also would release hostages held by Hamas.

The U.S. government also raised the pressure with additional sanctions Wednesday targeting more than a dozen ships and other entities it says were involved in illicit shipments of Iranian petroleum for the financial benefit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the chief of Israel’s army said Wednesday that the military is preparing for a possible ground operation in Lebanon as Hezbollah hurled dozens of projectiles into Israel, including a missile aimed at Tel Aviv that was the militant group’s deepest strike yet.

Blinken has been urging both Israel and Hezbollah to step back from their intensifying conflict, saying that all-out war would be disastrous for the region and that escalation was not the way to get people back to their homes on the Israel-Lebanon border.

“It would be through a diplomatic agreement that has forces pulled back from the border, create a secure environment, people return home,” Blinken told NBC News. “That’s what we’re driving toward because while there’s a very legitimate issue here, we don’t think that war is the solution.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ukraine should be allowed to strike deep inside Russia, despite Moscow threatening that this would draw Canada and its allies into direct war.

“Canada fully supports Ukraine using long-range weaponry to prevent and interdict Russia’s continued ability to degrade Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, and mostly to kill innocent civilians in their unjust war,” Trudeau told reporters at a news conference in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., on Friday.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the NATO military alliance allowing Ukraine to use weapons it has provided for long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are at war with Russia.”

Ukraine and many of its supporters want U.S. President Joe Biden to let Kyiv use the weapons to strike military targets deeper inside Russia.

Trudeau said Ukraine can use this capacity to stop Russia’s frequent strikes on hospitals and daycares across the country.

Putin’s remarks were in line with the narrative the Kremlin has promoted since early in the war, accusing NATO countries of de facto participation in the conflict and threatening a response.

His comments came five weeks after Ukrainian forces stormed the border and put parts of Russian territory under foreign occupation for the first time since the Second World War.

Trudeau told reporters on Friday that Canada is “unequivocal” that Ukraine must win in fighting back against Russia’s invasion, or it will encourage other large countries to try absorbing their neighbours. He said Putin’s actions have consequences for everyone.

“He is trying to deeply destabilize the international rules-based order that protects us all, not just in every democracy around the world, but in all countries around the world,” Trudeau said.

Biden had said on Tuesday that his administration was considering the issue and “working that out.” The issue was also on the agenda Friday as Biden welcomed U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the White House.

Yet the White House’s national security communications adviser, John Kirby, said the U.S. doesn’t plan to stray from its policy. 

“There is no change to our view on the provision of long-range strike capabilities for Ukraine to use inside Russia,” Kirby told reporters, adding he wouldn’t expect any major announcement in that regard coming out of Friday’s discussions, “certainly not out of our side.”

As for whether the long-range missiles are a red line for Putin, Kirby also said it’s difficult to take the Russian president at face value, though he added that Putin has proven capable of aggression and escalation.

In May, Washington began allowing Ukraine to use American weaponry to strike inside Russia, but only for targets near the border being used to attack Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, which is 20 kilometres from the Russian border.

Democrats are stepping up their outreach to Polish Americans in this year’s presidential election as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump vie for support from a community that could play a decisive role in razor-thin battleground state contests.

Harris hopes to capitalize on Polish Americans’ historic animosity toward Russia and on Trump’s hesitancy to back Ukraine during last week’s debate. The Democratic vice-president’s team organized a national call with Polish American supporters on Wednesday to encourage local networks to hold their own events and spread the campaign’s message.

Although Polish Americans are not a particularly large demographic, many of them live in the so-called “blue wall” states that are critical to victory for either candidate. There are an estimated 784,000 in Michigan, 758,000 in Pennsylvania and 481,000 in Wisconsin, three places that Harris is visiting this week.

“We’re talking about an election where a swing of a few thousand voters in any of those states could make all the difference,” said Tom Malinowski, a Polish-born former Democratic congressman from New Jersey.

Filip Jotevski, the newly hired point person for networking with diaspora and ethnic communities, said on Wednesday’s Harris organizing call that if Trump returns to power “he’ll sell out Ukraine” after spending years “cozying up to Vladimir Putin.”

Trump was originally scheduled to stop by a Polish American shrine in Pennsylvania on Sunday for the unveiling of a monument to the anticommunist Solidarity movement. However, the visit was cancelled, according to a person familiar with the Republican candidates’ plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Trump had been expected to be there at the same time as Polish President Andrzej Duda.

The Polish American community was pushed into the spotlight during the Sept. 10 debate in Philadelphia, when Trump twice refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia.

“Negotiate a deal,” Trump said. “Because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed.”

Harris fired back that if Trump had been president when the invasion took place, “Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe.”

“Why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up,” she said.

Some were surprised yet pleased to hear their community mentioned on the debate stage.

“She knew what she was talking about,” said Tony Pol, a 67-year-old retired fire chief in Erie, Pa., who spent a quarter century helping run a Polish American fraternal organization. “I think that’s the concern of everybody — if Ukraine goes down, then Poland goes next, and that’s very concerning.”

Gosia Dodi, originally from Poland and now an American citizen living in western Michigan, said she “absolutely agrees” with Harris that Russia could target Poland if Ukraine loses. The 61-year-old described Trump’s affection for Putin as “dangerous for Poland.”

“I want the war over, but not the way he’s saying,” she said. “He thinks he can fix everything within one day or something, which is ridiculous.”

After Poland was devastated in the Second World War, the country spent decades as a satellite state of the Soviet Union. A revolution ended communist rule in 1989, paving the way for the country’s modern multiparty democracy.

Poland became a NATO member in 1999. Timothy L. Kuzma, a Pittsburgh resident who leads the Polish Falcons of America, a fraternal organization with 19th-century roots in Chicago’s large Polish immigrant community, said his community’s voters want to see a candidate that’s committed to strong transatlantic bonds.

“If either candidate doesn’t give those kinds of assurances, that’s problematic,” he said. “The candidates, both parties, have to pledge their support to Poland, to Ukraine, to NATO and to the overall security of Eastern Europe — and that’s all of Eastern Europe — and Europe as well.”

Trump has previously suggested withdrawing the United States from NATO, which would devastate the alliance, and he’s demanded that allies increase their defence spending to reduce the burden on Washington. If they didn’t, Trump warned, the U.S. would not uphold its treaty obligations and “would encourage them” — meaning Russia — “to do whatever the hell they want.”

Pete Alibali, 53, emigrated from Soviet-controlled Poland when he was 16, because his mother, a chemist, wanted to advance her career without becoming a communist party member.

A lifelong Democrat who now lives in Madison, Wis., Alibali views Putin as a “predator and a continuation of the Soviets.” Beyond his concern for his native Poland, he worries that tiny Baltic nations could also be threatened if Ukraine is defeated.

Alibali acknowledged that many Polish Americans are conservative, growing up reading Polish newspapers, working in Polish-owned businesses, listening to Polish radio and attending their neighbourhood Catholic church. He described his uncle, who lives in Chicago, as a “very rabid Trump supporter.”

“Trump divided my family,” Alibali said.

Polish American voters have swung back and forth between Democrats and Republicans in presidential elections over the years. They supported Trump in 2016 but backed President Joe Biden in 2020.

Malinowski said Trump’s visit to the shrine “shows that he’s nervous that he might be losing ground among a group of voters that he may have taken for granted.” He also downplayed any suggestion of friendship between Trump and Duda, a right-wing politician who once suggested renaming a military base in his country as Fort Trump.

“I know the Poles are nervous,” he said. “The advice they’re getting is, cultivate Trump just in case. They’re doing it with fingers crossed.”

Tom Kolano, a 55-year-old Republican in suburban Pittsburgh whose ancestors were Polish immigrants, said he’s encouraged by Trump’s relationship with Duda.

“I’m not worried that President Trump will abandon Ukraine,” Kolano said. “Here’s one big reason — I think Poland will have a lot to say about that.”

He pointed out that Duda and his political rival, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, used a visit to Washington in March to press a divided Congress to break its impasse over replenishing funds for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war.

John Laka, 66, of Appleton, Wis., believes that Trump will be stronger overall on foreign policy than Harris.

“I just don’t have a lot of confidence in her as a leader or president,” he said. “She’s just really lacking.”

Laka’s parents immigrated to the United States from Poland, and he’s not sure how much the country is really imperiled by Russia.

“The threat of Putin going further is always going to be there unless there’s that idea of deterrence and right now we’re not deterring going anywhere,” he said.

Ukraine made a new call Saturday on the West to allow it to strike deeper into Russia after a meeting between U.S. and British leaders a day earlier produced no visible shift in their policy on the use of long-range weapons.

The renewed appeal came as Kyiv said Russia launched more drone and artillery attacks into Ukraine overnight.

“Russian terror begins at weapons depots, airfields and military bases inside the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said Saturday. “Permission to strike deep into Russia will speed up the solution.”

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called on allies to greenlight the use of Western-provided long-range weapons to strike targets deep inside Russian territory. So far, the U.S. has allowed Kyiv to use American-provided weapons only in a limited area inside Russia’s border with Ukraine.

Discussions on allowing long-range strikes were believed to be on the table when U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in Washington on Friday but no decision was announced immediately.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressing the U.S. and other allies to allow his forces to use Western weapons to target air bases and launch sites farther afield as Russia has stepped up assaults on Ukraine’s electricity grid and utilities before winter.

He did not directly comment on the meeting Saturday morning, but said that more than 70 Russian drones had been launched into Ukraine overnight. The Ukrainian air force later said that 76 Russian drones had been sighted, of which 72 were shot down.

“We need to boost our air defense and long-range capabilities to protect our people,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “We are working on this with all of Ukraine’s partners.”

Other overnight attacks saw one person killed by Russian artillery fire as energy infrastructure was targeted in Ukraine’s Sumy region. A 54-year-old driver was killed and seven more people were hospitalized, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said.

Another three people died Saturday in a Russian strike on an agricultural enterprise in the front-line town of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region, Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.

Moscow warns Western nations

Meanwhile, officials in Moscow have continued to make public statements warning that long-range strikes would provoke further escalation between Russia and the West. The remarks are in line with the narrative the Kremlin has promoted since early in the war, accusing NATO countries of de-facto participation in the conflict and threatening a response.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency Tass on Saturday that the U.S. and British governments were pushing the conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, toward “poorly controlled escalation.”

Biden on Friday brushed off similar comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said on Thursday that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are at war with Russia.”

Asked what he thought about Putin’s threat, Biden answered, “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”

POWs exchanged

Russian and Ukrainian officials also announced on Saturday a prisoner swap brokered by the United Arab Emirates. It included 206 prisoners on both sides, including Russians captured in Ukraine’s incursion in the Kursk region.

The swap is the eighth of its kind since the beginning of 2024, and puts the total number of POWs exchanged at 1,994. Previous exchanges were also brokered by the UAE.

Both sides released images of soldiers traveling to meet friends and family, with Zelenskyy commenting, “Our people are home.”

Elsewhere, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 19 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the country’s Kursk and Belgorod regions.

A woman also died Saturday after a Ukrainian shell hit her home in the border village of Bezlyudovka, Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

WASHINGTON – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Washington next Thursday for talks with U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris as he presses for the U.S. to allow Ukraine to use western-provided weapons to strike deeper into Russia.

“I’m looking forward to hosting my friend President Zelenskyy of Ukraine next week at the White House,” Biden said in message posted on X. “During his visit, I’ll reaffirm America’s commitment to supporting Ukraine as it defends its freedom and independence.”

The Biden administration still is not convinced that it should give Ukraine the authority to launch long-range missiles deeper into Russia, and U.S. officials say they are seeking more detailed information about how Kyiv would use the weapons and how they fit into the broader strategy for the war.

U.S. officials said they have asked Ukraine to spell out more clearly its combat objectives should the administration green light loosening restrictions on long-range weaponry.

Administration officials are concerned that loosening restrictions would have limited impact and come with great risk. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week warned that Russia would be “at war” with the United States and its NATO allies if they allow Ukraine to use the long-range weapons.

U.S. defence officials have repeatedly argued that the long-range missiles are limited in number and that Ukraine already is using its own long-range drones to hit targets farther into Russia.

Zelenskyy is notably meeting separately with Harris, who is looking to succeed Biden.

She last met with the Ukrainian president in July at an international gathering in Switzerland to discuss the war, shortly before Biden announced he was abandoning his bid for re-election and endorsed Harris.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he would move to quickly end the war should he win the November election.

His running mate, Sen. JD Vance, said in a recent interview with the “Shawn Ryan Show” that Trump’s plan would include establishing a “demilitarized zone,” and Ukraine would not reclaim territory that Russia occupies and would agree not to join NATO.

Two people died in a missile attack on the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa, local officials said, as Moscow and Kyiv exchanged drone and missile attacks.

The Ukrainian air force said Sunday it shot down 10 of the 14 drones and one of the three missiles Russia launched overnight.

Oleh Kiper, Odesa’s regional governor, said the two who died in the suburbs of Odesa on Saturday night were a married couple, and that another person was wounded in the attack.

At least 35 people were wounded Sunday afternoon when a Russian aerial bomb struck a multi-story residential building in Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said, adding that the guided bomb hit the 10th floor of the building, with the fire spreading across four stories.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said it downed 29 Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday over western and southwestern regions, with no damage caused by the falling debris. It also said another Ukrainian drone was shot down Sunday morning over the western Ryazan region.

While Ukraine and Russia regularly launch overnight drone raids on each other’s territory, Ukrainian officials generally do not confirm or deny attacks within Russia’s borders.

The latest attacks came after Ukraine made a new call Saturday on the West to allow it to use the long-range missiles they have provided to strike targets deep inside Russia, as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back Russian advances in eastern Ukraine.

So far, the U.S. has allowed Kyiv to use American-provided weapons only in a limited area inside Russia’s border with Ukraine.

Kyiv officials argue the weapons are vital to weaken Russia’s ability to strike Ukraine and force it to move its strike capabilities further from the border.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to social media on Sunday to again appeal for a shift in the West’s policy on the use of long-range weapons, noting that Russia had launched “around 30 missiles of various types, more than 800 guided aerial bombs, and nearly 300 strike drones against Ukraine” this week.

“Ukraine needs strong support from our partners to defend lives against Russian terror—air defense, long-range capabilities, support for our warriors. Everything that will help force Russia to end this war,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.

An elderly woman is assisted after a Russian aerial bomb struck a multi-story residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024.

Lawyers representing the producers of “Russians at War” say they may pursue legal action against Ontario’s public broadcaster for pulling support for the controversial documentary amid outcry from the Ukrainian community and some Canadian politicians.

A letter addressed to TVO’s board and management demands that the network immediately reinstate its commitment to air “Russians at War,” or allow the filmmakers to license the film to another broadcaster or streaming platform.

The letter says that if the matter can’t be resolved, the film’s producers will be left with “no choice but to pursue all legal remedies,” including claims for breach of contract, defamation, and damages associated with any loss of funding for the project.

“We trust that the board will recognize the gravity of this situation and act swiftly to rectify it,” lawyer Danny Webber of Hall Webber LLP wrote in the letter sent Thursday, adding that the law firm expects a response from TVO within 10 business days.

TVO board chair Chris Day told The Canadian Press that the broadcaster won’t publicly comment on legal matters.

The film by Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova — which captures the experiences of Russian soldiers on the front lines of the war in Ukraine — has sparked considerable backlash from Ukrainian officials and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, who called it “Russian propaganda.”

The documentary was produced in partnership with TVO and financed in part by the broadcaster’s allocation of Canada Media Fund resources. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has denounced the use of public funds to help produce and screen “Russians at War,” saying she shares the Ukrainian community’s “grave concerns” about the film.

Last week, TVO’s board of directors cancelled plans to air the documentary in the coming months, citing feedback it had received. That announcement came just days after the network defended the film as “antiwar” at its core

The letter from the film producers’ legal team called the decision “a clear violation of the filmmakers’ rights,” noting that TVO’s programming department approved every stage of the documentary’s production, “reviewing each cut of the film.”

The board’s decision also has “potentially catastrophic financial implications,” the letter says, because money secured from the Canada Media Fund is contingent on the documentary having a broadcast licence.

“By cancelling the broadcast commitment, TVO has placed the entire project’s financing in jeopardy, exposing the filmmakers to potential financial ruin,” it claims.

“Russians at War” was set to have its North American premiere during the Toronto International Film Festival, but screenings had to be postponed to Tuesday due to threats of violence against TIFF staff and operations, organizers said.

The film’s director, producers and TIFF organizers have all rejected claims that the documentary promotes Russian propaganda, saying it was filmed without the knowledge of the Russian government and without any kind of financing from Russia.

KYIV, Ukraine –

 Authorities in Ukraine advised residents in the capital Kyiv to stay indoors Friday as air pollution, partly caused by fires in the region, blanketed the city.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources said the pollution was a result of the burning of peatlands and other wildfires in the region combined with autumn temperature fluctuations.

The capital woke up to thick smog with the rancid smell of blazing fires in the air. Some people were spotted wearing masks.

The Ukrainian capital topped a list of the most polluted major cities early Friday in a real-time database by IQAir, a Swiss company that monitors air quality levels. Its air quality appeared to have improved somewhat since as the city came down in the ranking later in the day.

Kyiv’s Department of Environmental Protection and Climate Change said that “the likely cause of this is fires in the Kyiv region.”

Fires have been reported in the Vyshhorod district, around 20 kilometres (around 12 miles) north of the capital.

Officials warned about an increased concentration of suspended particles, such as dust, soot, and smoke, in the air. In some areas of the city, air pollution levels have reached the maximum of the 100-point scale.

While human-driven climate change does not directly cause fires, it can increase the risk of wildfire as warming temperatures and increasingly dry air, trees and soil can make it easier for fires to spread. Forest fires around the world have worsened in recent years, with almost twice as much tree cover burning in 2023 than 20 years ago, according to the World Resources Institute.

Wildfire smoke can cause air quality to deteriorate even many miles away from fires. The main concern from the wildfire smoke is fine particle pollution, known as PM2.5. Fine particle pollution can cause short-term problems like coughing, as well as long-term impacts on the lungs and heart.

Pollution is a major health concern — with one major study estimating that pollution kills around 9 million people globally a year.

Residents in Kyiv were advised to close their windows, limit time spent outdoors, drink plenty of water, and use an air purifier.

“Particular attention should be paid to these recommendations by people with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases,” said a statement from the Ecology Ministry.

Autumn temperature variations trap harmful substances in the air, worsening pollution and reducing air quality, the ministry added.

KYIV, Ukraine – Russian strikes hit high-rise apartment blocks in Ukraine’s city of Kharkiv, leaving dozens wounded in a second consecutive nighttime attack this past week.

The bombs fell Saturday night on the district of Shevchenkivsky, north of the center of Kharkiv, the second largest city, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Nine residential buildings sustained varying degrees of damage, including 16- and nine-story blocks, he added.

Twenty-one people were wounded, including an eight-year-old, according to Syniehubov and Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov. Terekhov said 60 residents were evacuated from one of the buildings.

Kharkiv has been a frequent target of Russian attacks since Moscow launched its all-out invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.

The attack came after another late Friday that wounded 15 people, including a 10- and 12-year-old, as Russian airstrikes hit three Kharkiv neighborhoods, Terekhov said.

According to Ukrainian officials, KAB-type aerial glide bombs were used in both attacks, a retrofitted Soviet weapon that has for months laid waste to eastern Ukraine.

Russia also launched 80 Shahed drones and two missiles at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said. Ukrainian air defense shot down 71 drones, and another six were lost on location due to electronic warfare countermeasures, the statement said.

Farther south, a 12-year-old girl and a woman died after a Russian drone struck a passenger car in the city of Nikopol, local Gov. Serhii Lysak reported. Two others, including a four-year-old, suffered wounds.

A Russian artillery strike also killed one person in the eastern town of Kurakhove, regional prosecutors said, as Russian forces continue their grinding advance westwards through Ukraine’s industrial Donetsk province.

Russian drone strikes on Sunday also damaged energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s central Poltava region and the northern city of Shostka, local officials reported.

Shostka lies in the Sumy region, across the border from Russia’s Kursk province — the target of a startling Ukrainian military incursion launched last month. Weeks into the incursion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelneskyy said its aim is to create a buffer zone to prevent further Russian cross-border strikes that have for months wreaked havoc in Sumy.