Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence learned that Putin had ordered Russia to remove previous constraints on its air campaign, telling the military there were “no rules now.”

He said Russia began deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in September, including schools, hospitals and data centers.

Source: FT

Brazilian President Lula:

I honestly think I’m going to win the election in the first round. I think this election will be decided on Sunday.

Flávio Bolsonaro has no past, no present and no future.

Brazilian President Lula:

Trump knows that we have strategic things that he needs. I still have not put the reciprocity law into practice.

But he imports niobium, and 60% of his niobium comes from Brazil. And he knows that the moment we apply reciprocity, I’m going to play the same way he played.

Brazilian President Lula:

From time to time Trump tells me: "Mr. President, I’m imposing tariffs on the world because I have the best army in the world, I have the best navy in the world, I have the best rockets in the world."

And I tell him: "Trump, I don’t want war with you. I don’t want war with you. I want to defeat you in the narrative. I want to defeat you."

That’s why I’ve already written, I think, three articles for The New York Times. I want to talk to the American people about him. And that’s why he treats me with respect.

And it’s good that he treats me with respect, because I treat everybody with respect. That’s all I want: respect.

Brazilian President Lula:

China can be our partner, bringing technology to us, and so can the United States. I have no restrictions regarding the United States.

But Trump has to understand that he takes care of the United States. I take care of Brazil.

Brazilian President Lula:

When Trump came to defend Bolsonaro, I told him: "Trump, if you were Brazilian and what happened in the United States had happened here, you would have been arrested too. You would have been arrested. You can be certain of that."

Brazilian President Lula:

We have now discovered more oil on the Equatorial Margin. You have no idea.

If it turns out the way we think, there is going to be a lot of oil. Trump is going to die of envy.

Brazilian President Lula:

If it weren’t for me confronting these fascists, they would win the election easily. So I am an obstacle to them.

As long as I am alive, I will work to make sure fascism does not return to this country.

Brazilian President Lula:

We are going to distribute the weight-loss injection too — not indiscriminately. We are producing it in Brazil now.

We’re not going to give it free to everybody. We will give it to people who, according to medical judgment, need to lose weight and cannot do it through diet.

Zelensky:

Over the past 24 hours, oil facilities in the Samara and Volgograd regions were hit.

Successful operations were carried out in the Black Sea and in the Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd, Samara, and Krasnodar regions, targeting airfields, industrial facilities, oil refineries, a missile and space center, and an ammunition depot belonging to the occupiers.

France and Türkiye are blocking NATO plans to deepen cooperation with Armenia and Azerbaijan, leaving new partnership agreements stalled for more than a year.

France has blocked Azerbaijan’s NATO partnership over bilateral disputes, while Türkiye has blocked Armenia’s, insisting both plans be approved together.

The proposed partnerships would expand joint exercises, military training and political cooperation.

NATO diplomats warn the deadlock could undermine Armenia and Azerbaijan’s efforts to move closer to the West as both countries distance themselves from Russia.

Source: POLITICO

📸 Shahed drone mural near the UAE Embassy in Tehran reads: “This sound is closer than you think! Good night, UAE…”

UAE officials have warned the UK that a severe punishment for Man City could hurt future Emirati investment in Britain, according to people familiar with the matter.

Source: Bloomberg

BIG: The U.S. removed Syria from its blanket arms-export denial list, effective October 1.

This doesn't approve any specific weapons sale, it just means requests will now be reviewed case by case instead of automatically refused.

The change was made possible by the earlier removal of Syria's State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.

Zelensky:

The Russians want Ukrainians to leave the capital, Kyiv.

Zelensky:

China and India are the countries who are helpful for Putin to circumvent sanctions. It’s true. We have to be open.

Netanyahu's former advisor Ran Baratz:

The Turks brought down Assad. That was not to our benefit. Assad was more convenient for us.

Assad was not aggressive, and he was a very convenient conduit for proxies — for Hezbollah.

The Trump administration redirected millions of dollars from a $177 million Democracy Fund toward programs focused on migration, free speech, “Western civilizational norms,” Afrikaner rights in South Africa and alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen placed holds on 10 proposed grants worth $22 million, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved obligating the funds before they expired.

Among the proposals is $5 million for a European “civilizational alliance” promoting freedom of expression, national sovereignty and political competition.

Source: CNN

Israel’s Supreme Court overturned a ban on two Arab electoral lists, allowing the Joint List and United Arab List to run in the Oct. 27 Knesset election.

The bans had been approved by the Central Elections Committee following requests from Likud, Jewish Power and other right-wing groups.

Netanyahu:

Trump asked me, "Where do you get this strength?"

I told him: "It is the heritage of our fathers, passed down to the sons and to the generations to come."