--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- A. Martinez: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has a plan to defeat Russia. He's in Washington, D.C. today to discuss this plan with President Biden. So what's in it?
--:-- Michelle Martin: I'm A. Martinez with Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- A. Martinez: The sitting mayor of the country's largest city has been indicted. New York Mayor Eric Adams is facing criminal charges.
--:-- Michelle Martin: The indictment remains sealed for now, but investigations into his administration have led to a wave of departures.
--:-- A. Martinez: So how is the mayor responding?
--:-- Michelle Martin: And Florida is bracing for the impact of Hurricane Helene. The powerful storm could lead to life-threatening storm surges. If you think you're going to have to evacuate, get out now.
--:-- A. Martinez: NPR's Frank Morris with the latest.
--:-- Frank Morris: Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
--:-- Frank Morris: This message comes from NPR sponsor Adobe. Introducing the all-new Adobe Acrobat Studio, now with AI-powered PDF spaces. Need to turn 100 pages of market research into five insights with a click? Templates for a sales proposal that'll close that deal? Or an AI specialist to tailor the tone of your market report? You can do all that with the all-new Adobe Acrobat Studio. Learn more at adobe.com slash do that with Acrobat.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington, D.C. today, seeking President Biden's support for a strategy to end the war on Ukraine's terms.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Zelensky says protecting Ukraine will also keep Europe and the West safe. He warned the U.N. General Assembly that Russia was preparing to strike Ukraine's nuclear power plants.
--:-- Michelle Martin: A deal like that must never come.
--:-- Frank Morris: Former President Trump, however, is accusing Zelensky of dragging out the war and vows to cut aid to the country if he's elected.
--:-- Michelle Martin: With me now is NPR Ukraine correspondent Joanna Kakissis, who's in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: You're welcome. Let's start with this plan, which Zelensky calls his victory plan. Can you tell us about it?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Sure. Zelensky's team has kept the plan's details under wraps, but broadly, he wants much quicker action by President Biden on issues Zelensky say could strengthen Ukraine and keep Russia from dictating any peace terms.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: These issues include supporting an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO as soon as possible and lifting restrictions on the use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles like Atakums.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Ukraine wants to use these missiles to hit military targets like arms depots deep in Russia.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Here in Kiev, we spoke to a Ukrainian soldier, 23-year-old Vyacheslav Yurchak. He believes these strikes will weaken Russia's ability to supply its troops in Ukraine.
--:-- Michelle Martin: He's puzzled by this restriction. He's saying, look, they give us these long-range weapons, but say we can't use them. It's like giving me a machine gun and saying the enemy is 100 meters away, but don't shoot him.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: So we hear, you know, here in Washington that the White House has been cautious because it's trying to avoid escalating tensions.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So tell us more about how Ukrainians view this attitude.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Yeah, they're frustrated. We've spoken to Ukrainians who are very grateful to the U.S. for helping their country survive this war.
--:-- Michelle Martin: But they say they doubt that the U.S. actually wants Ukraine to win.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Russia continues to bomb Ukrainian cities killing civilians destroying power plants Ukrainians see Russia as getting more aggressive like this threat of attacking nuclear power plants as Zelensky mentioned
--:-- Michelle Martin: Are the Ukrainians worried enough to consider a deal, an unpleasant deal, like swapping territory occupied by Russia in exchange for some kind of ceasefire?
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: So, yeah, so that's a good question because recent polls are showing an increasing number of Ukrainians willing to consider this. but most are still categorically against it.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Let's hear from Vika Stujuk. She's a 32-year-old financial consultant. She got very emotional talking to producer Polina Litvinova.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Stujuk's relatives and friends were killed in this war, and she does not want them to have died in vain.
--:-- Michelle Martin: We also spoke to Serhii Kuzan. He's a defense analyst in Kiev, and he said, look, Russia first invaded Ukraine 10 years ago, and it hasn't stopped attacking us since.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: He's saying we will keep fighting no matter how much of Ukraine is occupied because there is no other way.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Before we let you go, how are Ukrainians viewing the upcoming U.S. election?
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: So Ukrainians are actually following it very closely.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And those we spoke to are worried about Donald Trump winning.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: They see him as ill-informed about the geopolitics and the context of this war.
--:-- Michelle Martin: They believe he is too enamored of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: And it didn't help that Trump also refused to meet Zelensky this week.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Because Ukraine's leadership, it has tried very hard to cultivate both political parties.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: And now Zelensky will meet with President Biden and Vice President Harris.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And Biden, at least, is expected to announce a surge in security assistance to Ukraine today.
--:-- Michelle Martin: That is NPR's Joanna Kakissis. Joanna, thank you.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: You're welcome.
--:-- Michelle Martin: World leaders are gathered in New York this week to address global issues.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Meanwhile, the city's top leader is facing serious legal problems.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted, according to numerous media reports.
--:-- Michelle Martin: The news broke last night after months of speculation about whether a series of federal investigations surrounding his administration would tie back to him directly.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Joining me now to tell us what she knows so far is Bridget Bergen, senior politics reporter at member station WNYC in New York.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: Good morning, Michelle.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So what do we know about what the mayor is accused of doing?
--:-- Bridget Bergen: Well, at this point, the indictment is still under seal, so we haven't seen the specific charges yet.
--:-- Michelle Martin: But about a year ago, The New York Times reported that the FBI was investigating whether the mayor conspired with the Turkish government to funnel illegal foreign donations to his campaign committee in exchange for favors from his administration.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: The Turkish government had built a new high-rise consulate in Manhattan, and there were issues with its fire safety inspection.
--:-- Michelle Martin: But again, as I said, we don't know the specific details.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: We'll know that when the indictment isn't sealed, which could happen as early as later this morning.
--:-- Michelle Martin: It does seem as though things have escalated in recent weeks.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: So for people who haven't been following it, can you just tell us a bit about what has been happening?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Yeah, this really comes after nearly a year of investigations into the mayor's campaign and city government.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: And this month, things really just stepped into a new gear.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Federal investigators seized the phones of the city's police commissioner to deputy mayors and the city's schools chancellor.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: And that was then followed by a wave of departures from the administration including the police commissioner the mayor chief counsel
--:-- Michelle Martin: And just this week the city schools chancellor said he was retiring at the end of this calendar year
--:-- Bridget Bergen: How has the mayor responded to all this?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Yeah, so, you know, for the past year, the mayor has insisted he did nothing wrong.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: And remember, this is someone who got his start as a New York City police officer who rose to the rank of captain.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So he often invokes his ties to law enforcement when he says he's always followed the law.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: He tells the people around him to follow the law.
--:-- Michelle Martin: But last night, he also issued a video statement.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: He says the charges will be found entirely false and that they're based on lies.
--:-- Michelle Martin: I will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: If I'm charged, I know I am innocent.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So tell us about the reaction from the city.
--:-- Michelle Martin: I mean, as you've just told us that this news broke last night, but what have you heard so far?
--:-- Bridget Bergen: How are people reacting to this?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Lots of people have been calling on him to resign.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: Even yesterday, before the news of the indictment broke, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a statement to that effect.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And since the news broke, the calls on Adams to step aside are really just growing louder by the moment.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: The one person who could actually remove Adams from office right now is New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Her spokesman, Avi Small, issued a statement very late last night.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: He said she's aware of these concerning news reports, is monitoring the situation, but it would be premature to comment further until the matter is confirmed by law enforcement.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So the pressure on Adams is growing.
--:-- Michelle Martin: That is WNYC senior politics reporter Bridget Bergen. Bridget, thank you so much.
--:-- Bridget Bergen: Thank you.
--:-- Michelle Martin: One of the largest hurricanes on record is roaring north through the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of Florida this morning.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Hurricane Helene is forecast to grow to a Category 4 storm when it slams into Florida's Big Bend region this evening.
--:-- Michelle Martin: NPR's Frank Morris is in St. Petersburg, and he's going to bring us up today.
--:-- Frank Morris: Good morning, Michelle.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So we've been keeping an eye on this, as you certainly have. Helene seems to be gaining in power and size.
--:-- Frank Morris: Would you just talk about the scope of what people are facing?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Yeah, the storm is enormous.
--:-- Frank Morris: Only four hurricanes this century have been this big over the Gulf, as big as Helene is expected to grow today.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Forecasters have the entire coast of Florida, the west coast of Florida, under a storm surge warning.
--:-- Frank Morris: 61 of the state's 67 counties are under a state of emergency.
--:-- Michelle Martin: In Tampa, a little more than halfway up Florida's Gulf Coast, the surge could shove eight feet of moving water through low-lying areas.
--:-- Frank Morris: Across the bay in St. Petersburg yesterday evening, people like Tracy Roginski were just taking it in stride and stocking up on essentials.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Wine and ice cream, yeah.
--:-- Frank Morris: Luckily, I'm pretty high up, so we usually don't have any flooding or anything.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So, yeah, I'm kind of used to the drill.
--:-- Frank Morris: Got the water, got the bathtub full. Make sure everything's charged up and download some movies on my phone just in case.
--:-- Michelle Martin: The storm surge is expected to be much worse farther north where Helene will make landfall.
--:-- Frank Morris: There, forecasters say the storm surge could be, quote, catastrophic and deadly.
--:-- Michelle Martin: It could be 20 feet, what meteorologists are calling unsurvivable.
--:-- Frank Morris: So what about people in Florida's Big Bend region?
--:-- Michelle Martin: What should they be doing?
--:-- Frank Morris: Right, that's where the storm's going to hit.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And the prudent thing to do is leave.
--:-- Frank Morris: In fact many counties there are under mandatory evacuations
--:-- Michelle Martin: Many others are under voluntary evacuations
--:-- Frank Morris: Of course in every hurricane there are people who ignore those evacuation orders
--:-- Michelle Martin: And afterwards a lot of times in the city they never do that again
--:-- Frank Morris: So we caught up with Florida Senator Rick Scott in Apalachicola yesterday.
--:-- Michelle Martin: He's a former governor with lots of hurricanes under his belt.
--:-- Frank Morris: And he says he's warning people to get out.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Right here in Apalachicola, they're thinking about 10 feet of storm surge.
--:-- Frank Morris: That's almost twice my height.
--:-- Michelle Martin: In the Big Bend, they're talking about 18 feet.
--:-- Frank Morris: You don't survive six foot of storm surge.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Water is what kills you.
--:-- Frank Morris: You know, mostly it's water now that kills you.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And so I hope everybody will take this seriously.
--:-- Frank Morris: Listen to the locals.
--:-- Michelle Martin: If you think you're going to have to evacuate, get out now.
--:-- Frank Morris: And then there is the wind.
--:-- Michelle Martin: The National Hurricane Center says it expects Helene to be a major category for hurricane when the eye of the storm makes landfall tonight.
--:-- Frank Morris: That actually just sounds really frightening.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Right. Yeah, when the storm hits, it's going to be packing sustained winds of 130 miles an hour with higher wind gusts.
--:-- Frank Morris: And it could be even stronger.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And Helene is fast-moving hurricane.
--:-- Frank Morris: And it's not going to slack off much as it moves inland.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And Tallahassee, about 25 miles up the coast, could see wind gusts of more than 100 miles an hour.
--:-- Frank Morris: The storm is likely to blow down trees and knock out power over a huge area, fanning out hundreds of miles inland as it sweeps into Georgia and Carolinas and possibly stalls out over Tennessee and Kentucky.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Jamie Rome with the National Hurricane Center said the scale of the wind damage will be enormous.
--:-- Frank Morris: We don't normally issue tropical storm warnings this far inland or for this part of the country, blanketing the entire state of Georgia, the entire state of South Carolina, in western periphery or the mountains of North Carolina with tropical storm winds.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Rome says about half the hurricane deaths are from inland flooding.
--:-- Michelle Martin: That is NPR's Frank Morris in St. Petersburg, Florida.
--:-- Frank Morris: Frank, thank you.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Thank you, Michelle.
--:-- Michelle Martin: In yesterday's podcast, in the introduction to a story about the growing Israel-Lebanon conflict, we referred to Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This is incorrect.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Israel says Jerusalem is its capital.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Many governments around the world do not recognize it.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Jerusalem is claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And that's up first for Thursday, September 26th.
--:-- Michelle Martin: I'm Michelle Martin.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And I'm A. Martinez.
--:-- Michelle Martin: How about listening to Consider This from NPR?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Republican politicians repeatedly argue immigration hurts the U.S. economy, but residents of Dayton, Ohio, have found the opposite.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Listen to Consider This from NPR.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Rossman, Andrea DeLeon, Russell Lewis, HJ Mai, and Ali Schweitzer.
--:-- Michelle Martin: It was produced by Iman Maani, Nia Dumas, Brianna Joseph, and Mansi Karana.
--:-- Michelle Martin: We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott and our technical director is Zach Coleman.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Join us again tomorrow.
--:-- Michelle Martin: You're getting.
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--:-- Michelle Martin: Get 25% off your first purchase when you visit ritual.com slash NPR.
