🛑 US Senate adjourns for Yom Kippur on Shutdown Day 1

While 750,000 federal employees are facing daily furloughs due to the ongoing government shutdown, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the total cost of halted compensation is reaching ~$400 million per day.

Voting won't resume until Friday, which will mark the fourth attempt to pass the same failed stopgap bills.

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🚨 US will provide Ukraine with intelligence, weapons for strikes deep into Russia — Reports

US President Donald Trump has allowed intelligence agencies and the Pentagon to provide Ukraine with intelligence on Russia's infrastructure facilities, The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported, citing US officials.

The report added that the US is also considering sending Tomahawk and Barracuda missiles to Ukraine.

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📉 Long shutdown will have impact on US economy — Hassett

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said the White House hopes that the shutdown is as short as possible.

He added that cabinet secretaries can use this as an opportunity for reductions in force.

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🪖 Norway opens training center for Ukrainian troops in Poland — reports

Camp Jomsborg is the largest foreign training mission ever for Norwegian soldiers, according to local media.

The facility can train 1,200 Ukrainian service members in the use of NATO weapons.

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🔊 Trump threatens mass firings and project cuts

The US president declared that he is "allowed to cut things that should have never been approved" and that he will likely do so, targeting federal workers and Democrats' "favorite projects."

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💬 Trump calls shutdown a chance to clear out 'dead wood, waste and fraud'

"Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud," he wrote on Truth Social.

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Loan to Ukraine from Russian frozen assets to undermine confidence in Europe

Providing Ukraine with a loan secured by frozen Russian assets will undermine the confidence of foreign investors from the Global South in Europe and the euro in particular, Richard Sakwa, a UK political scientist and professor emeritus of political science at Kent University, said on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club.

On Wednesday, European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that there was no consensus among EU leaders on granting Ukraine a "reparations loan" backed up by frozen Russian central bank assets, rather than by revenues generated from them.

👉He added that von der Leyen's plan to use Russian assets is a "legal attempt to do an illegal action." Sakwa noted that large Western business assets remain in Russia, and their owners cannot withdraw them from the country.

👉Sakwa said that a number of Western business representatives had tried to maintain normal relations with Russia, and expressed the opinion that confiscating their assets in response to the EU's actions would be a mistake.

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🚨🇷🇺💥RUSSIAN ARTILLERY DOMINANCE ON KHARKOV FRONT

Units of the 44th Army Corps clear the way, neutralizing Ukraine's targets with DEVASTATING firepower.

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◻️ Israel seizes humanitarian flotilla to Gaza

◻️ US will provide Ukraine with intelligence, weapons for strikes deep into Russia

◻️ Norway opens training center for Ukrainian troops in Poland

◻️ Long shutdown will have impact on US economy

◻️ Loan to Ukraine from Russian frozen assets to undermine confidence in Europe

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🚨Russia will have to respond appropriately to possible transfer of Tomahawks to Ukraine - Kremlin

Other key statements by Kremlin Spox Peskov:

🔸 The US is constantly sharing intelligence with Ukraine

🔸 Moldova's elections riddled with irregularities and oddities

🔸 Russia would expect anti-Russian sentiment in Moldova to give way to more pragmatic approach, but that has not happened yet

🔸 We would like Moldova to adhere to course of improving relations with Russia

🔸 Possible confiscation of Russian assets will not go unanswered, participants in European debate on possibility of confiscating Russian assets resemble 'gang'

🔸 Putin will attend G20 summit

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🚨🇷🇺 Putin to speak at Valdai forum at 13:00 GMT on Thursday

💬 "It's no exaggeration to say that this speech is eagerly anticipated around the world. As usual, it will be substantive and widely discussed and analyzed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The 22nd Annual Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, noscriptd “The Polycentric World: Instructions for Use,” is being held in Sochi from on September 29 – October 2.

Tune in for LIVE broadcast on Sputnik International

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🗣🇷🇺 Zelensky is playing ‘child card’ – Russian MFA spox

Russia is doing everything possible to reunite children displaced by the Ukraine conflict with their parents, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"This family reunification mechanism has long been established and is working successfully," Zakharova told reporters.

"Zelensky cannot be unaware of this, as Russian authorized representatives are in direct contact with the Ukrainian side on this issue"

Ukraine is not genuinely trying to find the children, she said, accusing Volodymyr Zelensky of playing "child card."

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🗣🇵🇸 Expert on Gaza peace plan: 'Without Palestinians, it's not a real peace plan'

"The plan has some potential good points, but it's not very clear," Mideast expert Yahia Zoubir speaks to Sputnik on the sidelines of the Sochi-hosted Valdai Forum.

"How can you have a plan, a peace plan, without the Palestinians being involved in it?"

He described it as "a take it or leave it" proposition where rejection means "the slaughter would continue in Gaza."

Speaking about Gulf-Israel relations, Zoubir questions if Arab leaders are now "sacrificing the demands of the Palestinians" by accepting the plan.

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