The Russian invasion enters its 20th month: Zelensky on post-war reconstruction, Ukraine attacks Crimea...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky turned to post-war reconstruction after his return to Europe from North America, while Ukrainian intelligence claimed to have dealt a major blow to the Russian navy in annexed Crimea, Radio Free Europe (RSE) reports.

Russian officials also said a Ukrainian drone struck near Russian intelligence offices in the northern city of Kursk as the full-scale invasion of Moscow enters its 20th month.

After a stop in Poland, Zelenskiy said via social media on September 24 that he had met with leading individuals from the business and financial sector, including media mogul Michael Bloomberg, in the United States of America (USA).

The gatherings were part of a visit that took him to the podium of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and the UN Security Council in New York, as well as to key meetings with US President Joseph Biden and congressional leaders in Washington and Canada.

"American entrepreneurs and financiers have confirmed their readiness for large investments in our country immediately after the end of the war and receiving security guarantees," Zelenski said via social networks. "We are working for the victory and reconstruction of Ukraine."

As the Russian invasion entered its 20th month, the Ukrainian military and an outside assessment suggested Ukrainian forces were pushing deeper into Russian defenses in their ongoing counteroffensive, particularly in the key southern region.

Ukraine's General Staff said on September 24 that Russian drone and missile attacks had continued over the past 24 hours, and said its forces were engaged in offensive operations "especially in the Verbova area of ​​the Zaporozhye region" in the south.

Earlier, analysts from the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said they used geolocation and other information to conclude that "Ukrainian forces are deepening their penetration" in the Zaporozhye region.

Much of the latest focus of Ukraine's three-month counteroffensive has been on and around Zaporozhye, home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant in a facility seized by Russia in the first weeks of the invasion.

In Russia, officials said a drone strike blamed on Ukraine damaged an "administrative" building in central Kursk near the offices of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

But reports that an explosion hit the FSB offices, located on Dobroljubova Street, could not be confirmed.

The governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said on Telegram that what he described as a Ukrainian drone had hit the administration building in the center of the city and that "the roof was slightly damaged."

Reports on social media showed images of smoke rising above the city center and suggested multiple explosions, although RFE/RL could not immediately verify their authenticity.

Kursk is about 90 kilometers away from the Ukrainian border. A drone strike last month damaged a train station and injured five people.

Ukrainian military intelligence claimed on September 23 that a missile attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula on September 22 was aimed at a "Russian Navy leadership meeting" and resulted in heavy casualties, including the group's commander.