Here's another update from our news desk:

Zelenskiy To Meet Trump In New York Next Week

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to hold talks with President Donald Trump and other world leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week.

It would be the first meeting between the Ukrainian and U.S. presidents since Zelenskiy's inauguration in May.

Zelenskiy will be in the United States on September 23-26 to attend the annual UN gathering, during which he will deliver a speech, his office said on September 20.

He is also due to participate in the September 24-25 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) summit at the UN headquarters in New York, and meet with leaders of the Ukrainian community of the United States, leaders of Jewish organizations, and representatives of the U.S. business community.

The announcement of Zelenskiy's meeting with Trump comes after the U.S. administration released $250 million in military aid to Ukraine that the White House had previously held for review.

The aid is largely meant to train and equip Ukrainian forces as they fight against Russia-backed separatists in a war that has lasted more than five years, killed more than 13,000 people, and torn apart a large swath of eastern Ukraine.

Washington has given Ukraine more than $3 billion in aid, including $1.5 billion in lethal and nonlethal military goods over the past five years, and is advising the country on the reform of its armed forces.

And here's another update from our news desk on the whistle-blower story:

Trump Defends Himself Against Whistle-Blower's 'Ridiculous' Complaint

U.S. President Donald Trump has dismissed a whistle-blower's complaint reported to relate to a promise he allegedly made to a foreign leader -- believed to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy -- as "ridiculous."

"It's a partisan whistle-blower," Trump told reporters on September 20 with Democrats trying to get the complaint turned over to Congress.

Citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported on September 19 that some of the whistle-blower's allegations appear to center on Ukraine.

The Post, citing two former U.S. officials, said the matter involved a "promise" Trump made during a phone call to a foreign leader that was so alarming that a U.S. intelligence official who had worked at the White House filed a complaint with the inspector-general of the intelligence community.

The complaint was filed on August 12, less than a month after Trump and Ukraine's newly elected president spoke by phone on July 25.

Democrats in the House of Representatives have already begun to investigate that call to determine whether Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, sought to manipulate the Ukrainian government into helping Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign by launching an investigation into potential Democratic rival Joe Biden, whose son did business in Ukraine.

On September 20, Trump tweeted about "the perfectly fine and respectful conversation."

"There was nothing said wrong," he wrote.

Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson has said the complaint consists of a "serious or flagrant problem, abuse or violation of the law" that involves classified information, according to a letter to lawmakers revealed earlier this month.

However, the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, has so far refused to allow the details of the complaint to be passed on to Congress, as required by law, sparking an outcry among Democrats.

With reporting by AP, the BBC, The Washington Post and The New York Times

A thread from a U.S. Democratic senator who recently visited Ukraine: