The United Nations told President Donald Trump it had launched a “thorough investigation” into what the US leader called “triple sabotage” during his visit to the organization’s headquarters.   The US sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday demanding answers about an escalator that failed, stranding Trump and first lady Melania Trump, as well as a malfunctioning teleprompter and a faulty public address system.”The Secretary-General informed the US Permanent Mission that he had already ordered a thorough investigation, and he conveyed that the UN is ready to cooperate in full transparency with relevant US authorities on this matter to determine what caused the incidents referred to by the United States,” Guterres’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said late Wednesday. In a long, angry social media post, Trump described the string of mishaps as “very sinister,” called for people to be arrested and said the US Secret Service was also conducting a probe.”This wasn’t a coincidence, this was triple sabotage at the UN. They ought to be ashamed of themselves,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.”I demand an immediate investigation,” he said.He was dogged by technical gremlins before and during his keynote speech to the organization and world leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly hall in New York.Footage showed the 79-year-old president and Melania Trump getting on the escalator at UN headquarters on Tuesday before it stopped with a lurch, forcing them to walk up.Then later, as he began his speech, he noted his teleprompter was not working.He spent much of the rest of the speech bashing the world body, accusing it of funding illegal migration that was turning the United States and European countries into “hell” and failing to support his peace efforts in Gaza and Ukraine.While Trump struck a mostly joking tone about the escalator, his mood hardened a day later.The UN has gently insisted that the teleprompter was operated by the White House.As for the escalator, Dujarric, the secretary-general’s spokesman, issued a note to reporters Wednesday saying that a videographer with the US delegation, who was filming on the escalator ahead of the first US couple, accidentally tripped a switch that caused the moving staircase to stop.  Trump also complained the public address system had been rigged so that his hour-long speech could not be heard.”The sound system was designed to allow people at their seats to hear speeches being translated into six different languages through earpieces,” said a UN official speaking on condition of anonymity.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the Kremlin will become a target and Russian officials should check for bomb shelters if Moscow does not stop its invasion of his country, Axios reported Thursday.Russia has occupied about 20 percent of Ukraine and rained bombs and missiles on civilian and military sites since launching a full-scale invasion in 2022, with Moscow’s forces striking the government complex in Kyiv for the first time this month.Zelensky said that Ukrainian policy would also now put previously off-limits targets in the crosshairs, Axios reported.”They have to know where their bomb shelters are,” Zelensky told Axios in an interview. “They need it. If they will not stop the war, they will need it in any case.”Answering criticism from US President Donald Trump and his right-wing government over the indefinite suspension of elections in wartime Ukraine, Zelensky also told Axios that he would not seek to remain in power once peace comes.”My goal is to finish the war,” not to continue to run for office, he said.Zelensky said Ukraine would not target civilians in Russia because “we are not terrorists.”However, he indicated that Ukraine hopes to obtain a more powerful US weapon, which he did not name, to threaten strikes deep inside Russia.Axios quoted Zelensky as saying he had told Trump during a meeting in New York this week “what we need — one thing.”- Trump growing ‘impatient’ -“If we will have such long-distance weapons from the United States, we will use it,” he said in a clip of the interview released by Axios.US and European backing for Ukraine’s ability to strike deep inside Russia has often wavered, with Washington and European capitals nervous of provoking Moscow into an expanded conflict.However, Ukraine is now frequently hitting Russian energy industry installations and Zelensky said Trump had given him the green light to continue.He said Trump had told him that he “supports that we can answer on energy.”Trump said following his meeting with Zelensky earlier this week that Ukraine could win back all of its territory from Russia — an astonishing turnaround after months of saying Kyiv would likely have to cede land to its larger neighbor.The US leader also called for NATO countries to shoot down any Russian fighter jets violating their airspace, following a series of incidents that have rattled US allies in Eastern Europe.It marks a major shift on Ukraine for Trump, who told Zelensky during a televised Oval Office bust-up in February that “you don’t have the cards” to beat Russia.The change in views by the US president reflects his growing frustration with Putin since a summit in Alaska on August 15 failed to produce a breakthrough, and was instead followed by increased Russian attacks.Vice President JD Vance warned Wednesday that Trump was “growing incredibly impatient” with Moscow, saying the US leader “doesn’t feel like they’re putting enough on the table to end the war.””If the Russians refuse to negotiate in good faith, I think it’s going to be very, very bad for their country,” Vance added.