LIVE UPDATES: Kiev Uses New Type of Missiles for HIMARS Launchers to Shell Lugansk

The high mobility artillery rocket system M142 (HIMARS) was developed in the US by the UK BAE Systems and the US Lockheed Martin defense contractors in the late 1990s, and has been produced since 2003. It is based on a three-axle wheeled chassis of the US army's family of medium tactical vehicles truck, and is capable of launching six rockets or one ATACMS surface-to-surface tactical ballistic missile. The effective firing range of certain types of projectiles is up to 80 kilometers (50 miles).

Last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the partial mobilization was prompted by the need to control the 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) contact line with Ukrainian forces and the Russian-controlled territories. The measure requires only 1% of Russia's total mobilization resource or about 300,000 reservists.

In early April, amid Russia's special operation in Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities and the media distributed footage showing the bodies of dead civilians strewn across Bucha and accused the Russian forces, which withdrew from the town on March 30, of the killings. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the footage was a staged provocation and that no civilians died at the time the Russian forces controlled Bucha.

Russia believes that the collective West is not ready to create "universal infrastructure of equal security" and cooperation, Russian delegation’s deputy representative at the United Nations First Committee on Disarmament Konstantin Vorontsov said on Monday.

"The West is not ready to create a universal infrastructure of equal security and cooperation," Vorontsov said.

The collective West does not want to allow independent states the freedom of choice, he added.

Relations between Russia and the collective West have been deteriorating for a prolonged period of time but soured after Moscow undertook a special military operation in Ukraine.

The West has been attempting to condemn Russia at various levels in the United Nations - UN Security Council, General Assembly and various UN committees - for Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

Most recently, the Russian mission to the United Nations vetoed a draft resolution in the UN Security Council that was put forward by the United States and Albania to condemn Russia for what was described as "annexation" of four regions in Ukraine after their population decided in referenda to become part of Russia.

The United States will soon announce it will provide four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers in a new $625 million arms package for Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Monday citing Biden administration officials.

Last week, the United States pledged an additional $1.1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, including the provision of 18 new HIMARS systems, hundreds of armored and tactical vehicles, radar systems, counter-drone systems, surveillance and communications systems.

The European Union will train up to 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers as part of a training mission, German magazine Spiegel reported Monday.

EU member states have agreed that up to 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers should undergo training outside the country as soon as possible, with 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers to undergo special combat training for commanders and courses for engineers, the media said, citing sources.

The mission plans are to be made as early as mid-October, the media added.

On August 30, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed the hope that the EU defense ministers would achieve a political agreement on training Ukrainian forces. In mid-September, foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland said that the EU needs to set up a training mission for Ukrainian forces and help with maintenance of military equipment.

On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine responding to calls for help from Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics. Western countries responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Moscow while also ramping up their military support for Kiev and providing Ukrainian military with training on bilateral basis.

Moscow has warned the West against further involvement in the conflict, while the EU, the US and NATO have maintained that they are not part to the hostilities despite training Ukrainian soldiers, sending their instructors and hardware to Ukraine, and providing intelligence.

Russia continues to be a major power that cannot be ignored, so the dialogue with it continues, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Monday.

"Russia continues to be a major power that will not cease to be our neighbor tomorrow, we cannot ignore it. The future will be decided at the table of negotiations, not on the battlefield. Therefore, the President of the Republic chose to continue the dialogue with the Russian president," Born said at a meeting of the National Assembly dedicated to the situation in Ukraine.

Earlier in September, French President Emmanuel Macron said that France should do everything to ensure that Ukraine and Russia return to the table of negotiations as soon as both sides are ready to do so. The president also noted that a respectful dialogue with Russia is effective and allows to achieve results.

The demand of the Polish Foreign Ministry to Russian Ambassador in Warsaw Sergey Andreev to condemn the referendums is a provocation, an unprecedented case, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Evgeniy Ivanov said.

Earlier, Andreev said that while he was summoned to the Polish Foreign Ministry in connection with the holding of referendums in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics and Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, he was offered to condemn them.

"This is an obvious provocation, a completely unprecedented case in diplomatic work," Ivanov told reporters.

Switzerland does not support the idea of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, Fabian Maienfisch, a spokesman for the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, told RIA Novosti on Monday.

"For the Swiss government, the confiscation of assets only on the basis of belonging to a state or being included in the sanctions list and using them to rebuild Ukraine is currently not an option of showing support for Ukraine," Maienfisch said.

Last week, Zelensky proposed Switzerland to block Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine

The Kherson Region will enter Russia with the village of Aleksandrovka and the city of Snigiryovka of the Nikolaev region, Pavel Krasheninnikov, the head of the Committee on State Building and Legislation of the Russian parliament’s lower house, State Duma, said on Monday.

On September 21, the deputy head of the Kherson region administration, Kirill Stremousov, told Sputnik that a part of the Nikolaev region was included in the Kherson Region to participate in the referendum on accession to Russia.

"In relation to the DPR and LPR, the borders will be determined in accordance with their constitutions. The borders of the territory of the Zaporozhye region are determined by the administrative borders of the region ... As for the Kherson Region, the borders here will also be determined by administrative borders, taking into account the decrees of the military-civilian administration of the region ... the Aleksandrovka and Snigiryovka municipal districts will be included in the Kherson region," Krasheninnikov said at a committee meeting.