Polish security services have neutralized a sabotage operation orchestrated by Russia and Belarus that aimed to destabilize Poland, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said on September 9. Warsaw has repeatedly accused Moscow of attempting to destabilise Poland because of its role in supplying military aid to its neighbor Ukraine, allegations Russia has dismissed. Saboteurs, operating from Belarus in cooperation with Russia, penetrated local and central government institutions, including state-owned companies implementing military contracts, he said. "The Belarusian and Russian foreign services...had a specific goal: to extort information, to blackmail individuals and institutions, and to wage a de facto cyberwar," said Gawkowski, who is also minister for digital affairs. Gawkowski said cyberattacks have doubled since last year.

Hundreds of policemen in northwestern Pakistan were blocking the Indus Highway that links Peshawar with the port city of Karachi on September 9 to protest alleged interference by Pakistan's military and its intelligence agencies in their daily work.

Senior officials of the local administration in the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province were engaged in talks with the protesting policemen to try to resolve the standoff.

Lakki Marwat is located on the periphery with the restive tribal region that borders Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters frequently target policemen and police stations.

The protesting policemen accused the intelligence agencies Military Intelligence (MI) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of interfering in their work.

Addressing the gathering, police officer Rashid Khan said the army should leave the district and let the police department work freely.

"We promise that we would restore peace in the area within three months" if the military officers stopped interference, he said.

Criticism of the Pakistani military and especially its powerful ISI have long been considered a red line by some elements in the country.

The UN human rights commissioner has condemned Russia's repeated attacks on Ukraine's energy facilities and said he feared for civilians there this winter.

Volker Turk said the population is "trapped in cycles of terror, through ongoing attacks by the Russian Federation striking civilian facilities like hospitals, schools and supermarkets, and repeated waves of targeting of energy infrastructure leading to countrywide blackouts."

SEE ALSO:

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

"I fear for Ukrainians this coming winter," he told the UN Human Rights Council on September 9. Turk said he was troubled by the impact on civilians of the recent escalation in fighting, including in the Russian region of Kursk.

Ukrainian forces made a large-scale push into the region, which borders Ukraine, on August 6.

Turk said Moscow had declined his office's request last month for access to areas of Russia affected by the conflict, including Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk.

Fighting erupted again on September 9 between Taliban forces and Pakistani security forces in the Kurram-Khost border areas, with eyewitnesses saying the violence included heavy weaponry and one elder saying a Pakistani soldier had been killed, although that could not be confirmed.

The outbreak follows reports of intense clashes in the same border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan that caused multiple casualties over the weekend.

Locals on the Afghan side of the border told Radio Mashaal that the latest fighting started around 1 p.m. local time on September 9.

Residents were said to be fleeing the villages of Palotsa and Setwan in the Zazai Maidan district of Afghanistan's Khost Province.

SEE ALSO:

The Azadi Briefing: Reclusive Afghan Taliban Chief Appears To Make Rare Trip

A local elder told Radio Mashaal that a Pakistani soldier had been killed but Radio Mashaal could not independently confirm that report.

Intermittent outbreaks of violence have heightened concerns about security in the region, with recent fighting sparked by an attempt to erect a security outpost on the Afghan side that Pakistani troops tried to stop.

Islamabad insists mutual agreements preclude the construction of new security posts by either side.

The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has disputed Pakistani accusations that it is allowing gunmen linked to the outlawed Tehrik-e Taliban to shelter in the area and launch cross-border attacks in Pakistan.

The Taliban has moved reinforcement troops, artillery, and tanks to the area.

Radio Mashaal's Khost correspondent said the Taliban was preventing locals and journalists from sharing information with media or outsiders.

Six Pakistani police officers guarding a team of polio vaccination workers were injured when their police van struck a land mine in northwestern Pakistan early on September 9, an official told Radio Mashaal. Amin Wazir, deputy superintendent of police in Wana, a central town in the South Waziristan tribal district, told Radio Mashaal that nine people were injured in the blast. Pakistan launched a five-day anti-polio drive on September 9 aiming to vaccinate around 3 million children below the age of 5. Pakistan is one of two countries in the world where the deadly polio virus has not been eradicated. Polio teams were frequently targeted by insurgent groups in Afghanistan before the Taliban's takeover of the country in 2021, when the hard-line Islamist group said it wanted to work with the UN to stamp out the disease.

A court in the Russian city of Tomsk on September 9 sentenced the former governor of the Siberian Tomsk region, Dmitry Gurdin, to five years in prison on embezzlement charges. The Soviet district court also ordered the former official to pay a fine of 400,000 rubles ($4,425). Gurdin was found guilty of embezzling 79 million rubles ($873,780) allocated for construction projects in the region. The court also convicted Gurdin of using a forged document but did not sentence him on that charge, citing the statute of limitations. Gurdin's lawyers said the ruling will be appealed. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

The head of Ukraine's military administration in the capital said on September 9 that an overnight drone attack was Russia's fifth aerial assault on Kyiv this month. The official, Serhiy Popko, claimed that all of the Iranian-designed Shahed drones involved were destroyed. "The fifth air attack on Kyiv since the beginning of September!" Popko said. Preliminary reports suggested there were no casualties or damage in the city from the attack. Officials, meanwhile, said a 16-year-old girl in the Dnipropetrovsk-region town of Nikopol died in an overnight attack there that injured three others. Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration head Serhiy Lysak said emergency responders pulled the girl from the rubble of a damaged building but could not save her. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

More Belarusian activists went on trial on September 9 on charges including allegations of support for a group called INeedHelpBy that assists political prisoners and their families.

Judge Vyachaslau Tuleyka of the Minsk regional court is presiding over the trial of 62-year-old activist Alena Totskaya, who is charged with "facilitating extremist activities" over alleged involvement with INeedHelpBY.

That group was labeled as extremist in January and dozens of activists reportedly associated with it, including Totskaya, have since been arrested.

Human right groups have recognized Totskaya as a political prisoner.

Also on September 9, the Hrodna regional court in the country's west started the trial of 26-year-old Katsyaryna Mendryk, who is also charged with facilitating extremist activities.

Mendryk was arrested on January 28 after she returned to Belarus from Poland, where she was alleged to have wired money and sent parcels to political prisoners.

After mass arrests in January of individuals involved in financial and other types of support of political prisoners and their families, about 30 activists were charged with facilitating extremist activities and 126 men and women were either fined or jailed on administrative charges.

A court in another western city, Brest, on September 9 started the trial of 10 activists over their alleged participation in unprecedented mass rallies after a presidential election in 2020 against the official results that declared Alyaksandr Lukashenka the winner.

Those activists have been charged with "taking part in activities that blatantly disrupt social order."

Thousands of people have been detained over protests following the 2020 election results, and rights groups have documented cases of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people died during the crackdown.

Lukashenka, who has run the country with an iron fist since 1994, has refused to negotiate with the opposition, and many of its leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country.

The United States, the European Union, and several other countries don't recognize Lukashenka as the winner of the vote and have imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the crackdown.

The European Union on September 9 described as "credible" information provided by allies suggesting Iran has supplied short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to help Moscow wage war in Ukraine and hinted at a "swift" response.

The statement came after the Kremlin declined to directly refute the accusation and instead highlighted its cooperation with Tehran in "the most sensitive areas" while Iran "strongly rejected" the allegation.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

"We are aware of the credible information provided by allies on the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia," EU spokesman Peter Stano said. "We are looking further into it with our member states and, if confirmed, this delivery would represent a substantive material escalation in Iran's support for Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine."

Stano added that "the EU leaders' unanimous position has always been clear. The European Union will respond swiftly and in coordination with international partners, including with new and significant restrictive measures against Iran."

Earlier the same day, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the Russian side had "seen this report."

But he did not appear to refute it.

"It is not every time that this kind of information is true," Peskov said. "Iran is our important partner, we are developing our trade and economic relations, we are developing our cooperation and dialogue in all possible areas, including the most sensitive areas."

Later, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a flat denial. "We strongly reject the claims on Iran's role in exporting arms to one side of the war," ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told a press conference.

The Wall Street Journal on September 6 reported that Iran had shipped short-range missiles to Russia, the latest of persistent reports of supplies of sensitive weaponry.

The White House responded by saying, "Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran's support for Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine."

SEE ALSO:

How Would Iran Benefit From Exporting Ballistic Missiles To Russia?

Analysts had suggested as rumors of a possible transfer of the weapons circulated that it would provide a boost to Russia's war efforts as its 36-month-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues.

Russian forces have purportedly used North Korean ballistic missiles, but North Korean production capacity is thought to be relatively small.

Russian Security Council Secretary and until recently longtime Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Tehran in early August, contributing to concerns.

Russia has used Iranian-designed attack drones since the early months of the invasion, although Tehran has denied its drones are being deployed there.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

A court in the Siberian region of Khakassia on September 9 sentenced a former Wagner Group mercenary pulled from prison to fight in Ukraine to eight years in prison for shooting a man to death for questioning his parking. Andrei Ashcheulov was serving an 18-year prison term for leading a criminal group when he was recruited by Wagner to fight in Ukraine in 2023. He was pardoned after he returned from the war. The number of crimes in Russia committed by former Wagner recruits and other ex-military personnel has been on rise since early 2023 as soldiers returned from duty. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

The Ozbekiston-24 state television channel and other state media outlets in Uzbekistan reported over the weekend that former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev visited the Uzbek city of Bukhara last week, where it said he held "unofficial" talks with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev.

Nazarbaev disappeared from public life and the political scene after unprecedented antigovernment protests in 2022.

Neither Nazarbaev's website nor his representatives said anything about the September 6 trip.

There did not appear to be any coverage of the visit among Kazakh media outlets.

It remains unclear what Nazarbaev and Mirziyoev discussed.

Nazarbaev, 84, resigned as president in 2019, picking longtime ally Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev as his successor. But he retained sweeping powers as the head of the Security Council, enjoying almost limitless powers as "elbasy," the leader of the nation.

Meanwhile, many of his relatives continued to hold important posts in the government, security agencies, and profitable business and energy groups.

SEE ALSO:

Uzbekistan's Increasingly Influential First Daughter Seen As Successor To President Mirziyoev

Nazarbaev and his clan lost influence in the oil-rich Central Asian nation after unprecedented antigovernment protests in January 2022, which started over a fuel price hike and spread across Kazakhstan over underlying discontent over the cronyism that had long plagued the country.

At least 238 people were killed across Kazakhstan, mostly in the country’s largest city, Almaty, after the protests turned violent.

Toqaev subsequently stripped Nazarbaev of the security council role, taking it over himself.

Since then, several of Nazarbaev's relatives and others close to the family have been pushed out of their positions or resigned. Some have been arrested on corruption charges.

SEE ALSO:

Relatives Fear Discussing Ethnic Kazakh Intelligentsia Behind Bars In China's Xinjiang

Critics said at the time that Toqaev's initiatives were mainly cosmetic and would not change the nature of the autocratic system in a country beleaguered for years by rampant corruption and nepotism.

In December 2023, Nazarbaev unexpectedly appeared in Moscow, where he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Before that, Nazarbaev had met with Putin in Moscow in June 2022.

Weeks before the deadly unrest in Kazakhstan and two months before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nazarbaev, Toqaev, and authoritarian Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka held talks with Putin in Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg.

House Republicans on September 8 issued a scathing report on their investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, blaming the disastrous end of America's longest war on President Joe Biden's administration and minimizing the role of former President Donald Trump, who had signed the withdrawal deal with the Taliban. The partisan review lays out the final months of military and civilian failures, following Trump's February 2020 withdrawal deal, that allowed America's fundamentalist Taliban enemy to sweep through and conquer all of the country even before the last U.S. officials flew out on August 30, 2021. The chaotic exit left behind many American citizens, Afghan battlefield allies, women activists, and others at risk from the Taliban. Defending the administration after release of the report, a State Department spokesman said Biden acted in the U.S.'s best interest in finally ending the country's deployment in Afghanistan.

Newly appointed Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha has ended a temporary representative's long-term mission to Georgia as one of his first personnel moves, suggesting the outgoing representative, Mykhaylo Kharyshin, doesn't understand the realities of diplomacy in wartime.

Kharyshin had recently suggested publicly that unnamed forces were trying to undermine Georgia and Ukraine's historically strong relations.

Sybiha was appointed as foreign minister on September 5 amid one of Ukraine's biggest government revamps since the ongoing Russian invasion began 2 1/2 years ago.

Sybiha said on social media after reportedly consulting with Kyiv's ambassadors and consuls that weapons and other defense needs for Ukraine were the unconditional priority of Ukrainian diplomacy.

Kyiv replaced its ambassadorial presence in Tbilisi with a temporary representative more than two years ago, following up on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's announcement just a week into the invasion that he was recalling his ambassador to Georgia for consultations due to the Georgian government's alleged obstruction blocking volunteers seeking to help Ukraine, and over sanctions.

Georgia's ambassador to Kyiv, Giorgi Zakarashvili, left Ukraine in July 2023 amid more public spats between Zelenskiy and Tbilisi.

Tensions have ratcheted up throughout the war, including as Georgia's ruling party has seemingly softened on aspects of its relations with Moscow and stoked disputes with its Western partners.

China's Foreign Ministry announced on September 9 that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Russia for a security meeting in St. Petersburg this week of BRICS group officials, with the visit and joint military exercises in the western Pacific underscoring Beijing and Moscow's cooperation on the international stage.

Moscow has increasingly looked to Beijing for diplomatic and economic support since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, sparking unprecedented international sanctions against Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's office said last week it expects Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend a BRICS summit in Kazan, southern Russia, in late October.

BRICS unites Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and has expanded since its founding to include other major emerging economies including the United Arab Emirates and Iran.

Also on September 9, China's official Xinhua news agency said Russian air and naval forces would be joining a Chinese military exercise this month in the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk, in the western Pacific.

The Chinese report said the joint exercise would help boost "the level of strategic coordination between the Chinese and Russian militaries and enhance their ability to jointly respond to security threats."

Western leaders have tried hard to discourage China from providing Russia with weapons, artillery, or any other military support for Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wang was invited to the meeting on September 11-12 of BRICS "high-ranking officials responsible for security matters" by former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Moscow and Beijing inked a "no limits" partnership weeks before Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine began, and Putin and Xi have each argued for demolition of U.S. "hegemony."

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

The German domestic intelligence agency has issued a rare public warning about the activities of a cybergroup within Russia's GRU military intelligence agency, citing recent joint research with U.S. agencies that points to the GRU group's efforts to target U.S. and global "critical infrastructure."

It did not include any specific, imminent threats.

In a post on social platform X on September 9, the Bundesamt fur Verfassungsschutz identified GRU Unit 29155 as a current threat and noted the group had "carried out cyberattacks and other reconnaissance activities against targets in NATO and EU countries."

It referred to its most recent joint cybersecurity advisory with the FBI, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), and other international partners whose findings were published last week.

That advisory said, "The cyber actors, assessed to be affiliated with the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) 161st Specialist Training Center (Unit 29155), are held responsible for computer network operations against global targets for the purposes of espionage, sabotage, and reputational harm."

Western intelligence and other officials have alleged numerous cyber and other attacks from GRU actors that appear to have accelerated since Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

A U.S. grand jury last week charged six Russian nationals, including five GRU officers, with conspiracy to hack into computer systems and commit wire fraud stemming from an alleged effort to hack the Ukrainian government ahead of the launch of that invasion.

The attempt also spread around the world and included targeting 26 NATO countries, the U.S. indictment alleged. It offered millions of dollars in rewards for information leading to the defendants' locations.

GRU Unit 29155 is also reportedly known as Cadet Blizzard or Ember Bear.

It is thought to focus frequently on vandalizing websites and spreading stolen data.

The GRU has been accused by Western prosecutors and security officials of being behind bombings, poisonings, and other deadly activities in Europe since Russia initially invaded Ukraine in 2014, annexing Crimea.

European Union ambassadors are set later this week to remove Nikita Mazepin and Violetta Prigozhina from the bloc’s sanctions list, according to multiple diplomats familiar with the file who weren’t authorized to speak on the record.

The EU has imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 2,300 people and entities since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022.

Every six months, that blacklist must be prolonged by unanimous consensus of the 27 member states.

The latest deadline is set to expire on September 15.

As in previous rollovers, Hungary has demanded the delisting of a number of people before Budapest will give its green light to the extension.

Some of the more hawkish member states, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, have countered that the bloc should move from a six-month extension of the sanctions to an annual decision -- a move Budapest has opposed.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his government have consistently resisted sanctions and accused Brussels of strong-arming the bloc into actions that undermine Hungary's and other member states' economies.

Hungary currently holds the bloc's six-month rotating Presidency of the European Council and has used the increased visibility to launch an uncoordinated diplomatic push that Orban described as a "peace initiative" but EU officials rejected as wholly of Budapest's own design.

EU diplomats have told RFE/RL that a compromise has been struck in which the six-month extension will remain but just two people will be delisted this time.

It was proposed that Mazepin and Prigozhina should be removed as they are both considered "weak cases" by the EU legal service that monitors the judicial aspects of Brussels’ sanctions policy.

Mazepin, a former Formula One driver and son of the Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, earlier this year won a case in the EU’s general court to have the sanctions against him removed.

He has, however, remained listed as the EU has argued that the court ruling only referred to an earlier period of the sanctions and that Brussels since then had renewed the lists with new criteria.

Prigozhina, mother of the late Russian oligarch and Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, won a court battle last year but so far has remained the target of sanctions.

Prigozhin, long a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died along with nine other people in a mysterious plane crash in August 2023, two months after he announced a rebellion at the head of his Wagner Group, a private army, that captured parts of Rostov-on-Don and advanced toward Moscow.

The septuagenarian Prigozhina is a longtime artist and art-gallery owner.

In the spring, a similar discussion was held in Brussels in which Arkady Volozh, co-founder of the Russian Internet giant Yandex, the businessman Sergei Mndoiants, and Jozef Hambalek, a Slovak national and head of the Russian nationalist Night Wolves motorcycle club in Europe, eventually were delisted by the EU.

The next renewal of the sanctions is due in March 2025.

Incumbents and other loyalists of President Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party were expected to coast to victory in most of the 21 regional governorships and other local voting that wrapped up in Russian elections that most rights groups and independent experts agree lacked any genuine competition.

Three days of balloting concluded late on September 8 in the votes, which include for a Moscow City Duma and the leadership of Russia's second city, St. Petersburg.

All of the current or acting governors in the races appeared headed to hugely one-sided contests, with only one challenger in double digits in the early tally results.

Russian authorities appear eager to tout the lop-sided contests of hand-picked Putin loyalists and other candidates as an exercise of patriotism 2 1/2 years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Russian censors describe as a "special military operation" amid an intense clampdown on possible dissent.

"Let's be honest: There's a war going on. Our task is to defeat our enemy," Dmitry Medvedev, a former president and prime minister and longtime Putin ally who now chairs the ruling United Russia party and serves as deputy chairman of the country's Security Council, said according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Twenty-four years into Putin's rule, Russia's elections are more tightly controlled than ever, lacking of any credible international observer missions and with genuine opposition candidates frequently disqualified or badly hamstrung.

The nationwide regional and local vote processes included ballot collections staged in parts of Ukraine occupied and unilaterally annexed by Russia, including Crimea, to fill Moscow-backed regional legislatures.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry condemned the processes in the occupied regions as a violation of international law. "We emphasize once again that the results of the so-called 'elections' in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea…are worthless, and the 'elections' themselves are illegitimate,” the ministry said ahead of the voting.

A group defending voters' rights, Golos, dubbed the vote an "imitation" of elections, saying it lacks genuine competition.

It said more than one-third of candidates were barred by Russian election authorities from participating in the votes across the country.

The vote collection lasted three days.

The head of the Russian Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, said there were no significant violations during the balloting and turnout was around 90 percent.

Golos said it received more than 500 accusations of violations during the election campaign alone.

Supporters of the imprisoned Pakistani leader Imran Khan have gathered to demand his release, amid tight security. Members of Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf, the main opposition party in Pakistan, rallied in Islamabad on September 8 despite police having blocked roads into the city. Imprisoned since August 2023, Khan, the main rival of current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, remains a popular figure despite a series of criminal cases against him. Supporters of Khan went on the rampage on May 9, 2023, after he was briefly arrested, vandalizing military installations across the country. Khan is on trial in a civilian court for allegedly abetting the violence, a charge he has denied. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a renewed effort to bring peace to Ukraine, adding that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had both agreed in recent talks on the need for a new peace conference that would include Russia. "I believe that now is the time to discuss how to arrive at peace from this state of war, indeed at a faster pace," Scholz told broadcaster ZDF in a televised interview. Scholz is under pressure at home after all three parties in his center-left coalition suffered painful losses in two regional state elections one week ago, while groups seeking better relations with Moscow won more votes.

Romania and Latvia, both members of NATO, on September 8 accused Russia of violating their countries' airspace with military drones, escalating tensions between Moscow and the West.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, incidents of Russian military drones or missiles flying across or crashing into neighboring states of Ukraine have been reported. Romania has confirmed drone fragments on its territory on several occasions, as recently as July this year.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

In the latest incident, Romania’s Foreign Ministry protested the alleged violation of the country’s airspace by "criminal Russian aerial vehicles."

In a statement on X on September 8, the ministry also urged “Russia to stop its reckless escalation,” adding that it had opened consultations with NATO and its allies over the incidents.

Earlier the same day, Romania said it scrambled two fighter jets that tracked the path of a drone that briefly violated Romanian airspace before heading toward Ukraine. The military said it was searching the area around the village of Periprava on the Ukrainian border, where it suspects a drone may have crashed.

Mircea Geoana, NATO’s outgoing deputy secretary-general and Romania’s former top diplomat, said the military alliance also condemned Russia’s violation of Romanian airspace.

“While we have no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia against Allies, these acts are irresponsible and potentially dangerous,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, Latvia also reported a Russian military drone had violated its airspace and crashed on its territory on September 7.

"We are in close contact with our allies. The number of such incidents is increasing on NATO's eastern flank, and we must solve them together," Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics wrote on X.

The Latvian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the drone had flown into the country's airspace from Belarus and crashed in the municipality of Rezekne.

"This situation is a confirmation that we need to continue the work we have started to strengthen Latvia's eastern border, including the development of air-defense capabilities and electronic warfare capabilities to limit the activities of UAVs of different applications," said Defense Minister Andris Spruds, according to AFP.

With reporting by AFP

Russian attacks overnight killed and wounded several Ukrainian civilians at various locations, Ukrainian officials reported on September 8, shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was continuing “long-range solutions” aimed at forestalling Russian air strikes inside Ukraine.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

In a video published late on September 8, Zelenskiy said that over the last week, Russian forces had targeted Ukraine with “more than 800 anti-tank missiles, almost 300 Shahed drones, and more than 60 ballistic missiles.”

“The terror can only be reliably stopped in one way -- by strikes on Russian military airfields, on their bases, and on the logistics of Russian terrorism,” he said.

According to the country’s air force, Russia overnight on September 8-9 attacked with four guided missiles fired from the Belgorod region, as well as 23 Iranian-made Shahed drones.

“The enemy’s attack was repulsed by antiaircraft missile forces, mobile-fire groups, and electronic warfare units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine,” the statement on Telegram said.

An elderly couple was killed by Russian shelling in the Ukrainian city of Sumy overnight, officials reported on September 9.

“Another four people were injured, including a 2-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy,” the local prosecutor’s office wrote on Telegram.

One house was reportedly destroyed and 20 others damaged.

Two Ukrainian animal-welfare workers were killed by a Russian strike against a hotel in the Donetsk region city of Mykolayivka, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service reported on September 9.

Officials in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, said on September 9 at least two people were killed by an explosion of unknown origin at an automobile factory.

“Preliminarily, two people have been killed, and there may be people under the rubble,” the Kyiv military administration wrote on Telegram, adding that rescue workers were on the scene.

A two-story building on the site was “partially destroyed,” officials wrote.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region reported that three people, including two children, were injured and two residences were “destroyed” by falling ordnance overnight. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote that antiaircraft forces had been activated during the night and “several aerial targets” had been shot down.

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Later on September 8, Gladkov said Ukrainian forces had attacked a fuel depot, triggering a series of fires.

"The Ukrainian military, aided by lethal drones, attacked a fuel storage site in Volokonovsky district," Gladkov wrote on Telegram, referring to an area near the border.

RFE/RL could not independently confirm the reports.

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said on September 8 that its forces had taken the town of Novohrodivka, some 12 kilometers from Pokrovsk, a key logistical hub for the Ukrainian military in the east.

The Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces, in a late afternoon report, described the situation as "tense" throughout the Pokrovsk sector and said "fierce battles" gripped areas around several towns, including Novohrodivka.

"So far, the enemy has carried out 23 assaults on Ukrainian positions," the report said. "Battles are going on in six locations."

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has denounced Russia’s elections in the occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea, noting that the procedure is a violation of international law. “We emphasize once again that the results of the so-called ‘elections’ in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea…are worthless, and the ‘elections’ themselves are illegitimate,” the ministry wrote. The ministry added that those involved in “the preparation and holding of the so-called ‘elections’” will be prosecuted. From September 6-8, Russia’s de facto authorities in the occupied region are holding voting for the Russian-imposed Crimean parliament, the municipal legislature of the port city of Sevastopol, and deputies of local councils. Russia has occupied the region since 2014. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, click here.

BELGRADE -- Thousands of LGBT supporters turned out on September 7 for a Pride march in Belgrade, where organizers said their demands that the government pass laws to recognize same-sex unions and gender identity remain their top priorities.

Marchers waved rainbow flags as they walked along a route secured by a heavy police presence behind a colorful banner with the phrase "Pride Means People" in Serbian. Several beat drums, while others held posters with phrases such as, “No one is free until everyone is free,” and, “Love wins.”

One poster called for people in Serbia’s LGBT community to have the same rights as Ana Brnabic, the former prime minister and current parliament speaker, who is openly lesbian.

Filip Vulovic, one of the organizers of the march, said participants wanted it to be “equal and loud."

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The march ended without any incidents after passing by the Serbian parliament building and the building that houses the presidency, pointing out the discrimination and violence faced by LGBT people.

Four government ministers, including Tanja Miscevic, who is in charge of Serbia's EU integration, took part. In a statement, Miscevic said the government is discussing the Law On Same-Sex Unions in the context of the experiences of other countries that have introduced similar laws.

"It is a matter of protection of a part of citizens who must be equal in law with other citizens," she said.

A small group of opponents of the Pride march gathered in the center of Belgrade, carrying church symbols, Serbian flags, and a banner that read: "Parade Humiliation." A police cordon prevented them from getting close to the march.

Goran Miletic, a spokesman for the organizers of the march, said the LGBT community has eight demands this year, but the most important is the adoption of the Law On Same-Sex Unions and the Law On Gender Identity.

Among the other demands are an improvement in health care for transgender people and public condemnation of government representatives for spreading hate speech.

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“I want to live freely and authentically," said Ana Jovanovic, a member of the organizing committee, saying that as a trans woman in Serbia she faces obstacles that make her life difficult.

"My path was not easy, but I am here to raise my voice on behalf of those who cannot be heard,” she said.

Police began deploying for this year’s Belgrade Pride march, which was held under the slogan "Pride Is People," on September 6, blocking traffic on the streets in the capital that were on the march route.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Serbia in 1994, but LGBT people say they still experience repression and violence.

There were 85 incidents last year in Serbia that were motivated by hatred toward LGBT people, according to data compiled by the Da Se Zna (Let It Be Known) group, which documents violence and discrimination motivated by homophobia and transphobia. The NGO said most incidents are not reported to authorities due to distrust in institutions.

Human Rights Watch warned in a report in early 2024 that LGBT people in Serbia face intolerance, threats, and violence, and the ombudsman of Serbia highlighted on the eve of the Pride march the need for stronger institutional support for LGBT people to prevent violence and other forms of discriminatory behavior to which they are still exposed.

A proposed law that would enable LGBT people to register as partners is pending. The Green-Left Front sent the proposal to the Serbian parliament last year, but the government has not brought it up for debate.

The law would allow same-sex couples some of the basic rights heterosexual couples have with regard to property, inheritance, and decision-making in case of illness. Right-wing parties and organizations and the Serbian Orthodox Church oppose the proposed law.

President Aleksandar Vucic said in August 2023 that he would not sign it, saying it would create "some third gender where you're not a man or a woman."

The heads of the British and American foreign intelligence agencies said on September 7 that Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia is a significant achievement that could change the narrative of war, as they urged Kyiv's allies not to be held back by Russian threats of escalation. Richard Moore, the head of MI6, said Kyiv’s surprise August offensive to seize territory in the Kursk region was “typically audacious and bold on the part of the Ukrainians, to try and change the game.” He said the offensive had “brought the war home to ordinary Russians.” Speaking alongside Moore at a joint public event in London, CIA Director William Burns said the offensive was a “significant achievement” that had exposed vulnerabilities in the Russian military. Burns also said the West should be “mindful” of the escalation risk but not be “unnecessarily intimidated” by Russian saber-rattling.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on September 7 accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) of watering down support for Ukraine just two weeks before a key state election. Baerbock, a member of the Greens and a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia, was speaking at a party meeting in the eastern city of Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg. Baerbock said she had counted on Brandenburg Premier Dietmar Woidke to continue supporting Ukraine but was dismayed after the regional chapter of the SPD wavered on supplying arms to the country in a preelection indicator for voters. The document in question saw the SPD respond "neutral" to the statement: "Brandenburg should work to ensure that Germany continues to supply arms to Ukraine."