India, Sept. 21 -- Volodymyr Zelensky lands in New York this week carrying more than the usual diplomatic baggage. Behind him: a record drone assault on Moscow, Russia's retaliatory wave of strikes that killed two people in Zaporizhzhia, and a sanctions bill his American counterpart signed into law that the Kremlin is calling an act of escalation. In front of him: a meeting with Donald Trump that may be the last functioning diplomatic channel left in the war.

Zelensky confirmed on Sunday that he and Trump had agreed to meet in New York on Tuesday, September 22, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly high-level week. The announcement came one day after Ukraine launched its largest drone assault of the war, with more than ...