Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN “God saved” Donald Trump after the US president’s major reversal on the Ukraine war. Argentina’s president later called for talks over the Falklands with the UK, and France’s Emmanuel Macron gave a nuclear deal deadline to Iran. Follow live below.
Wednesday 24 September 2025 20:00, UK
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Throughout the day, we’ve been bringing you speeches from the UN General Assembly in our live stream, with added text updates on the biggest developments.
That included coverage of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was the second speaker today.
You can catch up on the main takeaways from his speech in our key points or by scrolling back through our live page but if you missed it, you can also watch it in full below:
Estonia’s president, Alar Karis, also spoke and referenced Russia’s recent violation of his country’s NATO airspace – watch that address in full here:
Later in the day, Argentina’s Javier Milei gave a fast-talking speech heavy on economic theory – but found time to attack the UN, stick up for Donald Trump and call on the UK to enter talks about the Falkland Islands. Watch that one below…
And Syria’s jihadist-turned-president Ahmed al Sharaa entered UN history with his speech. Here it is in full:
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Our defence analyst Michael Clarke says that Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn’t alone in sounding the alarm on the destructive power of drone warfare.
The Ukrainian leader made the comments during his remarks to the UN General Assembly earlier today.
Clarke explains his fears are shared by many Western analysts – but not by Russia or China.
Watch his breakdown of Zelenskyy’s weapons warning…
More now on hopes for peace in Gaza and the release of hostages being held by Hamas there.
Kobi Ohel, the father of hostage Alon Ohel, says he expects Benjamin Netanyahu to return from his trip to the US this week with “news that all the people of Israel are waiting for”.
The Israeli prime minister is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, and is also expected to meet with Donald Trump.
Netanyahu told the Ohel family there was a combined military-diplomatic effort that was being continuously pursued to defeat Hamas and bring back all hostages, his office said in a statement on Wednesday.
Kobi Ohel added in a statement from the Hostages Families Forum: “His trip is a moment for all the cabinet ministers to give (Netanyahu) the backing and the strength so that he will act to secure the release of Alon and all the hostages.”
The US thinks a “breakthrough” could be reached to bring a ceasefire to Gaza in the coming days, according to a close ally and envoy of Donald Trump.
Steve Witkoff, who Trump has sent to both the Middle East and Moscow in a bid to end wars in Gaza and Ukraine, says the US is “hopeful… even confident that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough” on the war in Gaza.
Witkoff adds Trump’s 21-point peace plan was presented to some leaders at the UN on Tuesday.
As we reported earlier, Trump met with a number of Arab leaders yesterday and described it as his most important meeting of the day.
He told reporters he had more than 30 meetings with other world leaders.
Away from the UN, JD Vance is giving a speech in the US state of North Carolina.
It seems like Donald Trump’s vice president is focusing on domestic matters like “law and order” and American politics but if you want to watch him speaking live, use the stream below.
We’ll update you here if he touches on world affairs.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said a deal with Iran is possible, but there are “only a few hours left”.
Macron was speaking about a deal between Tehran and Germany, France and the UK to delay a return of UN sanctions.
After meeting his Iranian counterpart, Macron wrote on social media that an agreement “is still possible”.
“There are only a few hours left, it is up to Iran to meet the legitimate conditions we have set,” he said.
The three countries launched a 30-day process on 28 August to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
The trio, also known as the E3, took the step over claims Iran failed to abide by a 2015 deal that aimed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Elsewhere on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, there has been a “frank exchange” between EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Von der Leyen said the main focus of the chat was to follow up on the EU-China summit in July.
She raised issues such as climate change and trade, and said the EU “welcomed” Li’s statement on the war in Ukraine.
Von der Leyen added: “I expressed my request to China to use its influence to help bring an end to the killing and encourage Russia to go to the negotiating table. Time for diplomacy is now. It would send a strong signal to the world.”
Read her full statement below…
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is in New York and has been sitting down with his opposite number from the US (see our previous post).
Before that, the Russian foreign ministry said his first meeting today was with the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Lavrov does not speak to the UN General Assembly until Saturday, and the Russian foreign ministry announced earlier that Lavrov has 10 meetings today – including with the US’s Marco Rubio.
Lavrov has also met with the minister of foreign affairs of Slovakia Juraj Blanar.
While we’ve been bringing you speeches at the UN General Assembly, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has been meeting Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
We’re yet to hear any news from either side regarding the talks, and we’ll bring you an update as soon as we get it.
Lavrov is in New York for meetings ahead of his speech at the UN General Assembly, which will take place on Saturday.
Ahmed al Sharaa hits out at Israel over its strikes against Syria, and calls for dialogue.
“Israeli policies contradict the international supporting position for Syria which threatens new crises and struggles in our region,” he says.
“In the face of this aggression, Syria is committed to dialogue.”
Al Sharaa also called on the international community to “stand beside us” in the face of Israeli attacks.
He concludes his speech by saying the story of Gaza is not over and that its next chapter will be one entitled “peace, prosperity and development”.
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