Zelenskyy urges more international pressure on Russia for civilian deaths

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chided the international community Wednesday for not taking a tougher stance against Russia over its escalating bombardment of civilian areas of Ukraine.

At the end of August, Russia launched a week of nighttime and daylight attacks on Kyiv in its heaviest sustained bombardment of the Ukrainian capital since its full-scale invasion began more than four years ago. The relentless missile and drone strikes have continued this month and aim to sap civilian morale, Ukrainian officials say.

International economic sanctions on Russia and efforts to isolate Moscow diplomatically haven’t stopped the invasion. Zelenskyy urged countries to step up the pressure.

“Unfortunately, there has been too little response from the international community to these strikes, which are taking people’s lives practically every day,” he said on social media.

“But a response is needed — Moscow must not go into the winter believing that it can get away with missile and drone terror without consequences,” he said.

The United Nations said last month that increasing Russian aerial attacks killed or wounded more Ukrainian civilians in July than in any month since March 2022, with 437 killed and more than 2,600 wounded. In all, more than 16,800 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than 51,000 wounded since the Russian invasion, according to the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

Moscow always denies it aims at civilians and says it is targeting military-related facilities.

The U.S. has renewed its push to end the fighting, sending special envoys over the weekend to Kyiv and Moscow, although Washington’s efforts haven’t yet delivered any substantial progress. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said late Tuesday that the Ukraine-Russia talks were “substantive” but much remains to be done.

Russia's aerial attacks overnight into Wednesday killed at least two people and wounded seven, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow fired ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones at six regions.

Four of the wounded were in a 22-story residential building in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, where a drone damaged the 11th floor and started a fire on the 12th floor, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.

Olha Smal, 62, who lives on the 12th floor, said the blast wave flung her across her kitchen. One of her bedrooms caught fire, and smoke quickly filled the apartment, she said. Her pregnant neighbor was wounded.

“You live one day at a time. You don’t know what will happen to you tomorrow, or even what will happen today,” she told The Associated Press. “It’s very, very hard.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its forces hit a drone factory warehouse in Kyiv.

It also claimed strikes on fuel reservoirs and an electric substation in the port city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

The Russian military also struck a ship heading to Odesa with military cargo and logistical facilities at Ukraine’s Starokozache border crossing with Moldova, the ministry said. The border strike killed two people, Ukrainian authorities said.

On Wednesday evening, three people were killed in a Russian drone attack on the grounds of a shopping mall in Sumy, said Oleh Hryhorov, head of the Sumy regional military administration. He called the strike “targeted."

Artem Kobzar, acting mayor of Sumy, said 14 people were injured in the strike.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is responding to Moscow’s strikes with daily long-range attacks on infrastructure deep inside Russia.

Ukrainian drones on Wednesday targeted an unspecified industrial facility in the remote Russian city of Novy Urengoy in northwest Siberia, local authorities said. The attack was repelled and there were no casualties, but falling drone debris sparked a fire, Yamalo-Nenets region Gov. Dmitry Artyukhov said on Telegram.

Novy Urengoy is located some 2,800 kilometers (1,700 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and Russian independent news outlet Meduza said it was Ukraine's first attack on the city. About 80% of all natural gas in Russia is currently extracted in the Yamalo-Nenets region, according to the Interfax news agency.

Fire Point, a Ukrainian company that makes deep-strike drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, posted on X: “Guess who just traveled over 3,300 km and successfully hit the target?” It did not elaborate, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian strikes targeted Novorossiysk, a Black Sea port in Russia’s Krasnodar region. The attack hit a naval base, including a terminal used to load oil, military port facilities, and warships carrying cruise missiles, according to Zelenskyy.

The Novorossiysk naval base is a key hub for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, providing maintenance and logistical support for its ships, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.

Krasnodar Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said that four people, including a child, were killed and 29 others were wounded in the drone attack on Novorossiysk.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 596 Ukrainian drones from late Tuesday until early Wednesday.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Firefighters work on a partially damaged residential building following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters work on a partially damaged residential building following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Locals watch as firefighters work on a partially damaged residential building following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A woman peers from a window of a partially damaged residential building following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

CLEVELAND (AP) — Gavin Williams and José Ramírez delivered when the Cleveland Guardians needed them the most.

Williams had 12 of a record 21 strikeouts by Cleveland pitchers, Ramírez hit a two-run, go-ahead home run on a pitch just above home plate in the fourth inning and the Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 Saturday night to complete a comeback from an 0-2 deficit in their best-of-five AL Division Series.

AL Central champion Cleveland became just the 11th team to win a best-of-five series among the 96 that fell behind 0-2, the first since the 2017 New York Yankees against the Cleveland Indians and only the fourth to achieve the feat after losing the first two games at home.

“I’d say that the confidence that we have in this group has been really tested and refined over the course of the last two years," Guardians closer Cade Smith said. “As a group, we’ve dealt with some adversity and seen us come out on the other side of that and had success in spite of that. And that builds a quiet foundation of confidence to play from.”

The Guardians open the AL Championship Series at Tampa Bay on Monday night, seeking their first World Series trip since 2016. Cleveland hasn’t won the title since 1948, the longest drought among MLB teams.

It will be an ALCS matchup of small-payroll teams. Cleveland started the season with the lowest in the major leagues and the Rays were 26th.

Chicago, the first team to reach the playoffs after three straight 100-loss seasons, won its first four postseason games, including a Wild Card Series sweep of Houston, then lost four in a row. The White Sox have not won the World Series since 2005.

“We are sitting in disappointment, and it hurts not to be able to advance," Chicago manager Will Venable said. "At the same time, you know, you do zoom out and look what this group accomplished and what they did to bring baseball back to White Sox and the pride back to the organization and then really the city.”

Guardians pitchers set a record for strikeouts in a nine-inning postseason game and the most in any nine-inning regular or postseason game since at least 1900. The White Sox got just three hits and put only nine balls in play.

“Our pitchers are incredible. We asked a ton of them this whole series,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “When you miss bats, they can’t get anything going. And they just shut them down, and that’s a really good offense over there.”

Two days after saving Game 4, Williams became just the third pitcher in postseason history to get the last out of a game and start the following game when his team faced elimination in both.

The 27-year-old right-hander needed seven pitches in the first inning and struck out the side in the second and fifth.

“He can be that quiet guy, but he’s that silent killer. He’s going to go and do his best,” Ramírez said through an interpreter.

Chicago's only two baserunners came via a walk and hit by pitch until Kyle Teel looped a knuckle-curve into right field with two outs in the sixth.

“We got him out earlier than he wanted the other day — and he got us today. He was unbelievable and kept things out of the zone," Chicago second baseman Chase Meidroth said.

Williams had 24 strikeouts over three games, one shy of the mark for a best-of-five postseason series. His 12 Sunday tied Cleveland’s record for a postseason game set by Charles Nagy.

He got 22 swings and misses, throwing mostly curves and sweeps and firing 18 at 100 mph or higher Monday.

“I think that goes back to seeing them six or seven times now. And Patey (catcher Patrick Bailey) did a good job back there," Williams said. “He was reading swings the whole time.”

After a walk loaded the bases, Erik Sabrowski relieved and struck out Munetaka Murakami on a foul tip, the pitcher letting out a yell.

Hunter Gaddis followed Sabrowski and got four outs, and Smith finished for his first career five-out save, striking out the side in the ninth. He got Tristan Peters to chase a 99.2 mph fastball for the final out, setting off a celebration at Progressive Field.

“It was less about chase and more about being attacked in the zone and swing and miss in the zone,” Venable said. “Just didn’t have what it would have took to move some balls forward there.”

Murakami and Andrew Benintendi struck out four times each, and Teel and Chase Meidroth three times apiece.

Cleveland pitchers had a Division Series record 75 strikeouts and held Chicago to a .185 batting average. Smith and Gaddis became the 16th and 17th relievers to pitch in all five games of a Division Series.

Chicago starter Sean Burke retired the first nine Cleveland hitters before Steven Kwan singled leading off the fourth.

On the fifth pitch of his at-bat, Ramírez lined Burke's knuckle-curve just over the wall near the right-field line for a 2-0 lead.

“In that AB, I was looking for a curveball for strike. So I was able to get my legs and get a good contact,” Ramírez said through an interpreter.

Ramírez homered on a pitch 0.74 feet above ground, the lowest pitch hit for a postseason home run since tracking started in 2008, according to MLB Statcast, and the lowest hit by Ramirez in his 14-year big league career.

“When he hit it, I was kind of wishing it away from Peters and then it snuck out,” Vogt said. “I mean, to go down and get that, to be able to get through that, that takes some power, that takes some strength."

Tampa Bay went 5-1 against the Guardians, including three shutouts. It will be the third postseason meeting of the teams following the Rays' win in the 2013 wild card game and the Guardians' sweep in the 2022 Wild Card Series.

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Cleveland Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio celebrates with teammates in the locker room after Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams walks to the dugout after being taken out of the game in the sixth inning of Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez celebrates after hitting a home run in the fourth inning of Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey, left, celebrates with pitcher Cade Smith (36) after Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians players celebrate after Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami walks back to the dugout after striking out in the sixth inning of Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians' Petey Halpin is tagged out at third base by Chicago White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas (20) during the fifth inning of Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams walks to the dugout during the second inning of Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez celebrates after hitting a home run in the fourth inning of Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez celebrates after hitting a home run in the fourth inning of Game 5 of baseball's American League Division Series against the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)