Notable moments from Day 2
• Defiant speech: On the second day of the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran will not bend to US President Donald Trump and asserted Iranians have been “the victims of terrorism.” Separately, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US-Iran mediated talks did not yield any major breakthrough.
• Zelensky’s warning: In his remarks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Vladimir Putin “patient zero,” saying the Russian leader spreads war and instability. As he spoke, Zelensky’s party headquarters were struck by Russia, according to Kyiv officials.
• All eyes on Venezuela: The country’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez addressed the UN General Assembly more than eight months after the US captured her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro. She said Venezuela will hold elections and transition to a full democracy — but didn’t specify when — and thanked Trump for his “readiness” toward diplomacy.
Updates
(70)Our live coverage of the second day of the United Nations General Assembly has ended. You can catch up on Day 1 of the UNGA here.
Scroll through the posts below for more updates from today.
Key takeaways from Day 2 of the UN General Assembly
The second day of the General Debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly featured more speeches from world leaders, including addresses from Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Here are some highlights:
Venezuela
- Venezuela’s acting President Rodríguez said Venezuela will hold elections and transition to a full democracy — but did not specify when — in her address to the UNGA more than eight months after the US captured her predecessor Nicolás Maduro.
- Rodríguez thanked US President Donald Trump for “his willingness to resume the path of diplomatic relations and cooperation.”
- She also addressed Venezuelans recovering from the devastating earthquakes that shook the country in June, saying: “Let us walk united as one nation that decided, in the wake of pain, to choose hope.”
Iran
- Iran’s President Pezeshkian told the General Assembly his country will “never bow our head or bend at the knee” to the US.
- He said the Iranian people have been “the victims of terrorism,” countering Trump’s speech on Tuesday, where he called the Iranians “terrorists.”
- Separately, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US-Iran talks on the sidelines of the UNGA did not yield a breakthrough.
Ukraine
- In his UNGA speech, Ukrainian President Zelensky called Russian President Vladimir Putin “patient zero,” saying the more freedom he has to act, “the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone else.”
- Zelensky later said a Russian attack on Kyiv Wednesday killed at least two people, urging the international community to increase pressure on Russia to end its more than four-year war.
Spain
- Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for reforming the UN Security Council to “ensure fair representation for all regions of the world and to end the veto power of permanent members” in his address.
Panama
- Earlier, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino also proposed reforming the Security Council to grant permanent membership to countries from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Putin could appear alongside Trump ahead of G20 — at Xi’s APEC summit
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to attend the G20 summit in Miami, Florida in December, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday, adding “we hope that’s an invitation he’ll accept.”
If the Russian leader does accept it will be his first time attending the summit in-person since 2019, before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and could provide an opportunity for a direct meeting with US President Donald Trump, who he last met in Alaska last year.
But ahead of the G20, there is another annual international forum where both Putin and Trump could also meet: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Shenzhen, China this November, hosted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The annual summit groups together 21 countries accounting for more than half of global trade, and has previously seen several landmark meetings between world leaders and high-stakes talks.
Last year, Trump skipped the summit, which took place in Gyeongju, South Korea, but he did meet China’s Xi on the sidelines in a major meeting that made progress in easing their crippling trade dispute.
Putin is expected to attend the summit in China, according to Russian state media –– his first appearance at APEC since 2017 in Vietnam, where he and Trump briefly spoke and shook hands.
A Kremlin aide recently raised the prospect of a trilateral meeting between the leaders of the world’s three major powers at APEC in November, state news agency TASS has reported. The likelihood of such a meeting between Trump, Putin and Xi, is perhaps slim, but if it were to go ahead, would be unprecedented.
Trump has yet to officially confirm his attendance at APEC, but has previously hinted at a return to China this year.
Zelensky says Ukraine sent captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea
Ukraine recently sent two North Korean soldiers captured fighting for Russia to South Korea, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly.
Zelensky shared some details of the capture, saying “One of them, when he realized he was he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself. He was shocked that fate didn’t let him die. This is how they raise people in the north.”
South Korea said it could not confirm any details about the two soldiers in a statement from the foreign ministry Thursday local time, adding the issue was a “sensitive matter involving the safety and security of the individuals and their families.”
South Korea has been in communication with Ukraine and other countries and organizations on the matter, the statement added.
Back in January of 2025, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had captured two North Korean soldiers fighting in the Kursk region of Russia and transported them to Kyiv. They are the only known North Korean soldiers to be captured alive.
North Korea has sent troops to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine since 2024, appearing on the front lines during the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk, as Moscow and Pyongyang deepen their ties. Ukrainian officials recently claimed that North Korea’s troops in Russia include a drone unit to attack targets within Ukraine.
CNN has reached out North Korea’s UN mission in New York for comment.
Correction: This post has ben updated with the correct the date for the capture of the North Korean soldiers.
Here's what Venezuela's acting president said during UN General Assembly remarks
Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez spoke about relations with the US, the devastating earthquakes that struck the country earlier this summer and announced Venezuela had begun “an orderly, institutional and verifiable” transition toward democracy.
Her remarks to the UN General Assembly this evening come months after US forces, in a high-stakes operation, captured her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, from a compound in Caracas in January. He was transported to the US to face criminal charges and is currently in a Brooklyn detention center, miles away from where the UNGA is taking place.
If you’re just joining us, catch up on highlights from Rodríguez’s speech:
- US-Venezuela relations: Rodríguez thanked Trump for what she called “his willingness to resume the path of diplomatic relations and cooperation” with Venezuela. “Today, we are working solemnly to, through dialog, settle our differences,” she said. “But first and foremost, we are working to pave the way for cooperation in the field of energy, to promote security and to fight together transnational crime.” Trump announced last month that the US had reached an oil agreement with Venezuela, a move he said will “more than double” American oil reserves, increase oil supply and lower gas prices.
- On elections and democracy: Venezuela will hold elections and transition to a full democracy, Rodríguez announced during her remarks. However, she didn’t specify when a vote will be held. She said the Venezuelan people will “determine when the correct time for these elections is.”
- Earthquake recovery: To Venezuelans recovering from the devastating earthquakes that shook the country in June, Rodríguez said, “Let us walk united as one nation that decided, in the wake of pain, to choose hope.” She also described Venezuela as “being reborn,” adding that “the strength of a people is not measured in easy times, but rather at times like these.”
CNN’s August Phillips, David Goldman, Kit Maher and Mauricio Torres contributed reporting.
Russia will not end war "without pressure": Zelensky responds to attack on Kyiv during UNGA
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia “will not end this war without pressure” after Moscow launched an attack on Kyiv as he met with US officials in New York Wednesday to discuss “the need to strengthen sanctions.”
At least two people were killed in the strikes on Ukraine’s capital, which targeted civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, a maternity hospital, energy infrastructure, and logistics, Zelensky said in a post to X.
Emergency services are still working to rescue people trapped in buildings, he added.
A convention center that hosts Zelensky’s party headquarters was also struck, according to Kyiv city officials.
Addressing the UN General Assembly earlier Wednesday, Zelensky said Russian President Vladimir Putin is “patient zero” and the more freedom he has to act, “the more dangerous the world becomes for everyone else.”
China’s rejuvenation and making America great can go "hand in hand,” Xi says
We have a readout from Beijing’s foreign ministry of written remarks that Chinese leader Xi Jinping gave on arrival in Washington, in which he said the world’s two largest economies can coexist.
“Together, we can and should find the right approach for China and the United States – two major countries – to get along with each other in the new era. I am confident we can,” Xi said, according to the readout.
It’s a common refrain that you hear Xi give when it comes to the growing great-power rivalry between the US and China; he made very similar comments in May this year during Trump’s state visit to Beijing.
For context: The “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” has long been Xi’s signature slogan, much as Trump uses MAGA as a shorthand for his signature “America First” policies.
Xi – who has consolidated more power than any Chinese leader since Mao Zedong – has no midterms, and indeed no electorate, to worry about.
But he does have his own domestic headaches: a stagnant domestic economy, a moribund real-estate market, high youth unemployment, and a sweeping AI drive that hasn’t yet turned into real production power.
Delcy Rodríguez calls on international community to support changes in Venezuela
Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez said this evening that “democracy is not measured by the mere existence of elections” after announcing the country will hold elections and transition to a full democracy.
“Democracy is measured by the quality of the competition that precedes those elections,” Rodríguez said during her Wednesday remarks at the UN General Assembly. “An election should be a solution, not a source of irreconcilable conflict.”
Rodríguez also called on the international community to support the changes taking place in Venezuela.
According to the acting president, key pillars of this process include “an orderly legal reform” and the “responsible exercise” of politics.
Spain PM calls for reforming the UN Security Council
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for strengthening the function of the United Nations (UN), adding that a necessary step toward this goal is reforming the Security Council and eliminating the veto power held by its five permanent members.
In his address to the UN General Assembly this evening, Sánchez argued that these measures would help revitalize multilateralism.
“We need to reform the Security Council to ensure fair representation for all regions of the world and to end the veto power of permanent members, because, as the UN Charter indicates, no country — no matter how powerful — should act as both judge and party to a dispute,” he said.
Earlier, during his own address, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino also proposed reforming the Security Council to grant permanent membership to countries from Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Security Council currently consists of 15 members: 10 non-permanent and five permanent members with veto power (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China).
Delcy Rodríguez thanks Trump for "willingness to resume the path of diplomatic relations"
Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez thanked President Donald Trump this evening for what she called “his willingness to resume the path of diplomatic relations and cooperation” with her country.
During her debut address to the United Nations General Assembly, Rodríguez said Venezuela seeks to “be reborn” following two blows suffered this year: first, the “strangulation of its internal political life and the heightened confrontation with the United States”; and second, the double earthquakes of June 24.
The earthquakes were devastating toVenezuela, causing the deaths of more than 6,500 people and extensive material damage.
Venezuela to hold elections, transition to democracy, acting president tells UNGA
Venezuela will hold elections and transition to a full democracy, acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Wednesday at the UN General Assembly.
Rodríguez didn’t specify when a vote will be held, only saying that the Venezuelan people will “determine when the correct time for these elections is.”
Rodríguez, who became acting president after the United States toppled strongman leader Nicolás Maduro, said the democratic transition is underway and promised that the process would be transparent, inclusive and verifiable.
“We have begun a political dialogue with sectors of the opposition, which will lead to a process where everyone will compete on an equal footing,” she said.
Rodriguez delivered her speech a day after Venezuela’s exiled opposition leader María Corina Machado attempted to return to the country but was denied entry three times, according to her advisers.
A look at the current state of US-Venezuela relations
On January 3, US forces undertook a high-stakes operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from a compound in Caracas and transport him to the US to face criminal charges.
Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, assumed the position of acting president. Since then, Rodríguez, a stalwart of both the Hugo Chávez and Maduro governments, has worked to win US President Donald Trump’s support while keeping Chavismo alive.
Rodríguez, who is speaking today at the UN General Assembly, has overseen tactical concessions to Washington, including favorable positions in strategic sectors like oil, and permitting increased US oversight and presence in the country. Meanwhile, much has stayed the same inside Venezuela under her rule, and little progress has been made toward holding democratic elections.
In August, the Venezuelan government met with opposition figures to begin US-backed talks aimed toward a democratic transition. On September 2, Trump said Venezuela is “not going to be ready” for democratic elections but looks forward to holding them “soon.”
In June, Rodríguez confronted the biggest crisis of her tenure so far when catastrophic earthquakes killed thousands and injured and displaced tens of thousands more. The US State Department said it would provide $150 million in aid to Venezuela in the aftermath of the tragedy.
The evolving relationship was most recently highlighted by a deal between the two countries that gave the US majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s oil reserves, according to Trump.
CNN’s Betsy Klein, Anabella González, Germán Padinger, Michael Rios, Kit Maher and Alfredo Meza contributed reporting.
European Council president meets Iran’s Pezeshkian on UNGA sidelines
European Council President Antonio Costa met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and called on Iran to cease strikes on its neighbors.
Costa said the two leaders had a “frank and substantial discussion,” and urged Iran to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been a major point of contention in the Iran war.
“I stressed that dialogue is the only way to resolve conflicts and to ensure lasting peace across the region,” Costa posted to X.
Costa also urged Iran to resume cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran has said it will not comply with demands from the agency to inspect its bombed nuclear sites, citing the absence of established regulations for inspecting facilities damaged by military strikes.
In June, Israel and the United States carried out significant military strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program, damaging key sites including Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan.
How Venezuela's Delcy Rodríguez faced her worst crisis yet after devastating earthquakes
The devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela in late June would have tested any government. But they hit a country still navigating the aftermath of strongman Nicolás Maduro’s capture nearly 10 months ago, turning a natural disaster into a political test for acting President Delcy Rodríguez and exposing anger over the state’s response.
The two catastrophic earthquakes that struck in quick succession on June 24 have left more than 6,500 dead, according to figures released in late August by the President of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez.
Both inside and outside the country, many citizens claimed authorities responded too slowly and failed to adequately address the tragedy, a criticism Rodríguez firmly rejects.
Analysts interviewed by CNN say the earthquakes have become a defining test for the interim government, exposing its political vulnerability and the limits of the state’s power to respond to the disaster. They argue that its outcome remains highly uncertain and that the actions of the United States will be decisive, given the supervisory role Washington currently plays in Venezuela.
The June 24 earthquakes rank among the deadliest natural disasters in Venezuela’s history.
A disaster of this magnitude would challenge any government, but analysts argue that Venezuela’s situation is particularly severe because it occurred in a country with institutions weakened by 25 years of rule by followers of the late President Hugo Chávez.
The US-Venezuela deal to control 65 billion barrels of oil reserves
President Donald Trump announced last month that the United States had reached an oil agreement with Venezuela, a move he said will “more than double” American oil reserves, increase oil supply and lower gas prices.
What this means: Under the agreement, the Pentagon’s little-known Office of Strategic Capital will acquire up to a 35% equity stake in a company that owns North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), the second-largest private oil producer in Venezuela.
NABEP plans to invest $100 billion in new infrastructure to produce oil from its fields, according to the White House.
The company is controlled by the family of Alejandro Betancourt López, a controversial international businessman based in the UK. Betancourt has been investigated — but not yet charged — in Spain on fraud and money laundering charges, and a similar investigation closed in Switzerland without charges.
A spokesperson for NABEP did not respond to a request for comment. The White House said NABEP will be subject to US laws, and the US government will be able to veto any board member appointment.
In addition to the equity stake, the US State Department has the right to purchase 20% of the Venezuelan oil produced by NABEP at the cost of production. The State Department also has the right of first refusal to buy the rest of the proceeds.
In all, the Trump administration says the plan gives it a 55% stake in the new joint venture.
NOW: Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodríguez speaks to UN
Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s acting president since the US capture of President Nicolás Maduro in January, is now speaking at the United Nations General Assembly.
Rodríguez has made tactical concessions to form an alliance with US President Donald Trump amid the political fallout from Maduro’s capture, and faced a major crisis after devastating earthquakes in June.
Honduras president addresses country’s challenges with natural disasters, security
Honduran President Nasry Asfura said during his address to the UN General Assembly this evening that in the face of challenges such as security and natural disasters, “no national effort is sufficient on its own.”
Regarding security, the president said his government has increased resources to strengthen police forces and that “democracies with aligned interests must act together.”
As for the environment, he referred to the drought Honduras is facing this year. The droughy, like the hurricanes of previous years, has a common origin: “an increasingly extreme climate.”
“There is another challenge that no country can face alone: natural disasters,” he said.
He added that addressing those challenges “allows us to focus on the future.”
“Honduras is a serious country, a country governed by laws, where we invite you to invest. To those who invest in Honduras, we offer opportunities, order, transparency, and clear rules,” he said.
OpenAI agent hacked into Australia's national healthcare system, prime minister says
An OpenAI agent hacked into a database of Australia’s national healthcare system, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“The AI agent accessed both public and non-public files,” Albanese said in a press conference. “A forensic investigation aided by the Australian Signals Directorate is now underway to ascertain more information, including what other government systems were affected.”
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the incident occurred in June but that the company was only made aware of it in August as they conducted extensive checks into its AI models’ activity. The company said it informed the Australian government on September 10.
“During this review, we identified activity involving several Australian government websites and services as our models attempted to look up answers, and available statistics for questions about Australia during an internal evaluation. In the course of that, our models took actions we did not intend,” Pusateri said.
OpenAI said they found no evidence patient records were accessed and that the information included “aggregate health statistics and internal file names.”
Albanese said that he spoke to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is also attending the UNGA, and expressed his displeasure.
“Today I spoke with the CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman to express Australia’s extreme concern about this incident,” Albanese said. “And I also expressed my disappointment that it took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred, and the nature of the way that notification occurred as well was unacceptable.”
The disclosure represents just the latest example of AI agents going rogue and acting in ways beyond what their human handlers intended. In July, OpenAI disclosed that during cybersecurity testing, its models created a swarm of AI agents that hacked into AI company Hugging Face’s systems. Many in the industry pointed to the hack as an example of the perils of the rapid pace of AI developments and capabilities.
Both Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei spoke at the UNGA, calling for greater global coordination and international standards for AI development.
Zelensky's party headquarters in Kyiv was struck as he spoke at UNGA
A convention center that hosts the party headquarters of Volodymyr Zelensky was hit in a Russian attack as the Ukrainian leader addressed the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, according to Kyiv city officials.
The strike was the latest in a string of attacks on the country that took place throughout the day.
Attacks in Kyiv killed two people and injured 43 others, city officials said. Among the strikes was one near a university and two on the convention center — the second of which took place as Zelensky spoke.
The roof of the convention center was damaged and the fire resulting from the attack was put out, emergency services said.
Heavy explosions were also heard overnight in the Ukrainian capital, with the air force reporting numerous ballistic missiles in the sky.
Russian forces also dropped four aerial bombs on the Ukrainian village of Oleksandrivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Wednesday morning, killing at least five people, according to regional governor Vadym Filashkin.
At least six people were reported injured in the bombing, and seven others, including two children, are believed to be trapped under rubble following the morning attack, Filashkin posted to Telegram.
At least 12 apartment buildings, 42 private homes, an administrative building, a kindergarten, a shop and seven vehicles were damaged, he said, adding that search and rescue efforts are ongoing.
Trump and first lady greet Xi as Chinese leader arrives in US
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan at Joint Base Andrews Wednesday evening, participating in a brief arrival ceremony.
Xi walked down the steps of his aircraft at 6:02 p.m. EST alongside his wife, where the Trumps were waiting to receive them on a 100-foot-long red carpet.
They shook hands and exchanged words for a few minutes through a translator. Xi was given a bouquet of flowers which he quickly passed off to a staffer.
This is the first time Xi has visited Washington, DC, since 2015. Trump traveled to China for a series of events with Xi in May.
The arrival ceremony included ceremonial cannon volleys, a 21-person honor cordon, two three-person color teams with both the US and Chinese flags, the US Air Force Band, playing the US and Chinese National Anthems and two B1 flyovers.
