Zelenskyy meets with Trump, Blinken announces $5.55 bln for weapons aid for Ukraine - Friday brief

Zelenskyy and Trump meet in New York: What is known

On Friday, September 27, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. They held talks at Trump Tower in New York.

In particular, Trump said that he has a good relationship with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. He is confident that if he wins the election, he will end the war in Ukraine “very quickly.”

Also, after his meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump emphasized that Russia's war against Ukraine must end. This should be done through a “fair deal for everybody.”

Blinken confirms allocation of $5.55 billion for weapons for Ukraine, preventing their expiration

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed the allocation of $5.55 billion under presidential authority for Ukraine. These funds could have "expired" at the end of September with the conclusion of the US fiscal year, according to the US Department of State website.

"Today, as part of the surge of assistance that President Biden directed ahead of his meeting with President Zelenskyy, the Department notified Congress of the intent to direct the drawdown of up to approximately $5.55 billion in defense articles and services from DoD stocks for military assistance to Ukraine under Presidential Drawdown Authority," the statement reads.

As explained by Blinken, this refers to funds allocated under the 2024 Security Assistance Supplemental Appropriations Act for Ukraine, which expires on September 30, when the US fiscal year ends.

Russia strikes administrative building in Kryvyi Rih, people under rubble

On September 27, Russians strike the administrative building of Kryvyi Rih. There may be people under the rubble, according to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, Serhii Lysak.

“Rissian missile attack on Kryvyi Rih. Russia struck the administrative building. There may be people under the rubble,” Lysak writes.

No other details of the situation have been disclosed.

Earlier, explosions and strikes were reported in Kryvyi Rih, and the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine warned of the threat of Russian ballistic weapons.

Ukrainian intelligence's hackers attack over 800 servers in Russia - Details

Hackers from Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (DIU) have attacked more than 800 servers across various regions of Russia over the past four days. All data has been destroyed without the possibility of recovery, according to RBC-Ukraine's sources.

According to a military intelligence source, the attack by Defense Intelligence of Ukraine's cyber corps destroyed all documents and data stored on the affected servers, which were the servers of military, administrative, and financial institutions that support Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Estonian intelligence predicts when Russia will feel effects of strikes on its depots

Lieutenant Colonel Janek Kesselmann, deputy head of the Estonian Defence Ministry's Intelligence Directorate, states that Ukrainian forces' destruction of military depots in Russia is likely to impact the country within two to three weeks. The Russian army will be forced to prioritize its actions on the front lines.

According to him, the intensity of Russian forces' shelling on the front has decreased from 226 strikes per day last week to 155 strikes per day this week.

Kesselmann noted that this is not the result of last week's depot destructions, as "the effect of this event will likely come in two to three weeks."

The Estonian intelligence officer highlighted that this raises the question of whether Russian forces have enough resources to push Ukrainian units that entered Russia's Kursk region back.

He also added that this week Russia continued its slow advance in the Pokrovsk direction, reaching a position that could enable the encirclement of the settlement of Selydove.