this thick white smoke indicates what ukraine says is a successful strike on the headquarters of russia s black sea navy in crimea. russia illegally annexed the southern ukrainian peninsula of crimea in 2014. this month, ukraine has carried out several attacks on the region, destroying a russian air defence system and damaging a ship and a submarine in a dry dock. kyiv is also trying to cut off russian supply lines as it continues with its counter offensive further north. 0ur senior international correspondent 0rla guerin is in kyiv. kyiv could hardly have picked a more high profile target than the headquarters of russia s black sea fleet in crimea and a source in the ukrainian air force told the bbc that the type of missile used was a storm shadow cruise missile and those are supplied by the uk and france. we have seen footage showing a massive impact on the building and tonight they have been claims in the past half an hour on social media that the commander of the black
continued occupation in a place that seems a cornerstone of its invasion from as far back as 2014. there is also a connection between this missile strike and ukraine s continued counteroffensive further north. what they are trying to do is frustrate russian supply lines and isolate swathes of occupied territory in the hope that troops will run out of supplies. now, president zelensky has just completed a visit to the us. he s in canada currently, and i think what we re seeing now is battlefield progress increasingly getting linked to the politics of it all. because, yes, he is being warmly welcomed by both countries, but there are political corners that are growing increasingly sceptical as to what the ukrainian victory might look like and as for how long western allies should be pumping billions of dollars into ukraine. so it s becoming increasingly high stakes for president zelensky, who s now having to do a fair bit of negotiating in his foreign policy. as james mentioned
the world is at an inflexion point and democracy will deliver. that was president biden s message at the united nations this morning. and at the center of it all is the fight for freedom in ukraine. that s right. we re awaiting remarks at the u.n. from the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. earlier today, president biden setting that stage, aiming to rally support for kyiv. now 19 months. hard to believe it s been this long, but 19 months into this brutal fighting unleashed by vladimir putin. we will not retreat the values that make us strong. we will defend democracy, our best tool to meet the challenge that we face around the world. and we re working to show how democracy can deliver in ways that matter to people s lives. our jim sciutto is there at the u.n. jim. reporter: this, certainly, brianna and boris, a crucial moment for ukraine and biden, the u.s. president, addressing the nations here this morning, for the world as well. saying that russia s invasion
general assembly in the shadow of russia s war. president biden urging a unified front against putin s aggression, as we wait to hear ukraine s president make hiown personal appeal with his country s future at stake. a cheer for freedom and an outpouring of emotion as five americans wrongfully detained for years in iran hug their families for the first time in such a long time. and turning up the pressure, united autoworkers set a new deadline for detroit s big three carmakers and threaten the strike could expand to more factories. plus, x marks the spot. on your wallet, that is. elon musk reveals plans to charge users a monthly service fee. our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments and we go first to nbc s mike memoli in new york city where the ukrainian president is about to speak after president biden tried to galvanize support for their fight against russia. talk about what the president had to say and what we re expecting from volodymyr zele