Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. [Photo Credit: Reuters]

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned Moscow at the United Nations on Wednesday that ​Ukraine would strike back and make the coming winter deeply painful for Russia, if the two sides cannot agree a truce ‌on energy attacks before the cold sets in.

Ukraine and its allies are racing to secure limited agreements on energy infrastructure and Black Sea shipping before winter, fearing renewed Russian strikes on power and heating facilities, while Moscow continues to show little interest in wider negotiations to end the war.

Though Russia has a far bigger arsenal of missiles which it has ⁠used to pound its enemy throughout the war, Ukraine has developed and used thousands of long-range drones to strike back at Russian warehouses, port infrastructure and ​oil refineries.

China’s Xi, who did not attend the United Nations gathering, was due on Thursday to hold White House talks with US President Donald Trump, with whom Zelenskiy met on Tuesday to discuss a ceasefire on energy-related targets.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with ​US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, after which Rubio said Ukraine and Russia had both voiced an interest in a limited ceasefire involving ​grain and energy-related targets.

There was no immediate sign of any movement in the Russian position, however.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said that at the meeting it had “reaffirmed its unconditional ‌commitment to ⁠achieving the objectives of its special military operation,” the phrase that Moscow uses to describe its war in Ukraine.

Addressing the 15-member Security Council on the sidelines of the annual UN gathering of world leaders, Lavrov indicated that Moscow would not countenance any temporary cessation of hostilities.

Britain, France and Denmark’s top diplomats ​used their speeches to deliver strong ⁠condemnations of Russia’s war, warning variously of dangerous escalation and the spike in civilian deaths this summer.

Zelenskiy used his address to the General Assembly to single out Putin’s role in driving the war, repeatedly ​describing him derisively as “patient zero” and “the one from whom this idea of war keeps spreading further”.

Zelenskiy told leaders at a “Crimean Platform” summit on the sidelines of the UN that Kyiv was ready for a maritime truce in the Black Sea based on proposals such as those put forward by Egypt, India and ⁠Turkey.

Top wheat importers in Asia, the Middle East and Africa that count on ​the Black Sea region for wheat have been finding it hard to secure supplies. Global wheat prices have soared.